Change of Use Statement

Change of use application for Warehouse Unit, Falcon cliff terrace Lane

Application to change the use of the warehouse unit on Falcon Cliff Terrace Lane from storage to martial arts classes.

Blackdog Mixed Martial arts has operated for ten years on the Isle of Man, first of the pro-active gym on the promenade for 3 years, then seven years at the Ellan Vannin Gymnastics club.

This change of use application is tendered to continue these classes at the above site. The classes are specialist in nature, for kids we specialise in anti bullying, by using a combat sports approach and a unique grading/evaluation system. The effect of this program is to increase the confidence of the student through competitive experience. We so far have had very encouraging results with this method.

For Adults we again cover the Combat sports, this time with a view to representing the Manx martial arts community at competition in the UK and in the future further afield. Last year we ended the season winning three titles: the Amateur UK mixed martial arts league Bantamweight championship was won by Andy Duncan, and The amateur UK mixed martial arts league Heavyweight championship and the Welsh grapple and strike Heavyweight championship were both won by Floyd Askin since then Andy Duncan has made his semi pro debut and Floyd Askin makes his Professional (possibly televised) debut in September.

The classes are not done to music nor is there any of the loud shouting (know as a Kiai!) that some associate with more traditional martial arts clubs.

Blackdog requires a more dedicated training area than a church hall offers, as we need to store our mats to fall on, and have a dedicated area for a boxing/kickboxing ring, that is far too cumbersome to be taken apart after each session.

The classes are split up through the week by age and ability, this keeps the numbers down so that each student gets more individual attention from the instructors. There are two main instructors and a few assistant instructors. The classes start at 5:30 and finish at 8:30 on Monday and Wednesday evenings and finish at 9:30 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings there are no classes on Fridays, and the weekends vary, from 3 to 5 hours starting at 10 o'clock in the morning.

It is hard to estimate a number of people that would be in the building, but I have not had more than 15 students on the mats so far since we started in January, add to that a few of the parents who might stay and watch, an instructor and an assistant coach, and there was probably 21 people in the building.

We have not yet marked out the car park with spray paint, allocating spaces but I am informed by the builders in my family who have been advising me that there should easily be enough spaces for 12 cars possibly 2 or three more.

Little to no work is required for us to use the facility, as we already have the mats and ring that we need to coach on and they are not fixed I am very. A porch was added.

inside to keep the cold out as the door will most likely be opening and closing as people are dropping off their kids etc. We will be doing little to no work inside the building other than the essential, as the landlord does want to eventually do something with the building and we only have the place until such time as he can.

The space available at the warehouse has been split into three significant areas on the floor plan requested, the wrestling/Judo matted area, where a significant portion of the lessons are taught, the boxing/kickboxing ring, an essential piece of equipment as many of the adults will compete in a ring in their competition in the UK and must be prepare for the experience, and we also reward the kids who work hardest by allowing them to have their sparring matches at the end of lessons in the ring instead of just on the matted area, this is a real rite of passage for the kids and encourages hard work. The third area is the karate mats, these are thinner than the Judo wrestling mats and so we do less work on these, but they are still used for padwork, and crossfit, which is a short series of exercises like boxjumps, pushups etc that are done one after the other to give explosive fitness to our competing athletes.