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The Department of Transport acknowledged receipt of the planning application on 5 January 2005. The application was assessed and the Department’s formal objection was made to the Secretary to the Planning Committee in our letter dated 25 January 2005. This objection was made for the following reason:
The proposed tourist accommodation and extensions to the public house are not supported by any off street parking arrangements, in a village where parking is at a premium.
Amended drawings were received which modified the layout to increase the public floor area on the first floor and to change the usage of the rooms in the manager’s third floor accommodation.
On the 7 April 2005 ARCH TEC (IOM) LTD explained the application maintains three lettable rooms with addition ensuite facilities and manager’s accommodation within the attic area. The applicant believes these arrangements will not contribute to any additional parking requirements.
On the 16 May 2005 approval in principle was granted by the Planning Committee.
The Department of Transport requested a Review on 3 June 2005 and the Planning Committee reiterated their approval of this application on 8 July 2005 at this Review.
The planning application has now proceeded to a planning appeal
The Department of Transport have consistently stated this application does not provide any off street parking to serve the enhanced tourist and leisure facilities proposed in the application. This statement by the Department of Transport is provided to support this stance and is divided into three parts which deal with traffic generation, existing on street parking congestion and options for providing off street parking.
This planning application proposes the extension and alterations to the existing building. The significant changes to the ground floor will result in an increase in the public floor for the pub and restaurant area from 60 square metres to 87 square metres. In addition the second floor includes a function room 29 square metres in size
which will result in the proposed total public floor area being 116 square metres. This is 48% increase in public floor area.
The existing tourist accommodation is located in the attic and consists of three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The proposed development will result in three ensuite bedrooms being located on the second floor. The improved accommodation and hospitality facilities will be more popular with visitors and the development will generate additional traffic through increased usage. The manager's accommodation is located on the third floor and initially consists of three bedrooms, kitchen, lounge and three bathrooms/water closets. Amended drawings were received which reduced the number of bedrooms to two with a lounge replacing the other bedroom. On the 7 April 2005 ARCH TEC (IOM) LTD emphasised these alterations by stating the manager's accommodation will be increased by providing an additional bedroom. The proposed manager's two bedroom flat has the potential to accommodate a larger family which will generate additional traffic. In addition the Department of Transport is concerned the rooms on the third floor if under utilised by the manager have the potential to be used as additional tourist accommodation which would generate further traffic.
The Baltic Inn is located on the A3 secondary route. This busy A road links Castletown in the south of the island to Peel and Kirk Michael on the West, via St Johns. The lines of parked vehicles on the roadside and on the footway cause difficulties for pedestrians and congestion by effectively reducing this road to single lane width for through traffic. The Department of Transport have proposals to rationalise the parking at this location which must strike a balance between resident/business parking, the movement of vehicular traffic through the village, reducing the speed of vehicles travelling through the village and the safety of cyclists/pedestrians.
The existence of terrace housing fronting onto the A3 and businesses such as the Baltic Inn which does not provide sufficient off street parking for their customers creates significant volumes of parked vehicles at this location particularly in the evenings. Additional car parking to serve the needs of this development will exacerbate these difficulties and increase the design difficulties for the proposed minor improvement scheme.
The application does not provide any additional off street parking to serve the needs of the development. The Planning Policy Guidance suggests the provision of 1 space per 5 square metres of public floor space. The extension/alterations to the Baltic Inn has created an additional 58 square metres of public floor space and one additional bedrooms for the manager's accommodation which should require 13 off street parking spaces. It is worth noting the Baltic Inn should have at least 28 off street parking paces to ensure the majority of vehicles visiting this business do not park on the public highway.
The applicant owns additional land adjacent to the Inn which although steep has the potential to be used to provide additional off street parking to serve the needs of this business.
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