Planning Officer Appeal Statement

Application No.: 06/01995/B Case Officer : Mr Ian Brooks ### Consultations {{table:150387}} {{table:150388}} ### Private representations {{table:150389}} ### Planning Applicant: Borough Of Douglas Proposal: Creation of vehicular access and laying of turf re-inforcement mesh to provide temporary car park, to be used during major events Site Address: Lower Playing Field Nobles Park Adjacent To St Ninians Road Douglas Isle Of Man **

Officer's Report

Site

• The application site forms part of Nobles Park. The site of the proposed works bound on to St Ninians Road.
• The application site is zoned as public open space within the Douglas Local Plan.

The application site is not zoned as a Conservation Area.

Proposed Development

• The application is proposing to create a temporary parking area within Nobles Park with access off St Ninians Road.
• 2nd 900mm high wrought iron gates to match height of wall and painted green will be installed at the new vehicular access.
• The vehicular access will be 3.2m in width.

Planning Status And Relevant Policies

• Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Douglas Local Plan) Order 1998.

Planning History

• None of relevance to the determination of this application.

Representations

• Douglas Corporation – No objection
• Highways Division of Department of Transport – do not oppose subject to the imposition of the following condition: The new access must be relocated along the St Ninians Road frontage to provide an offset of 25 metres from the Laureston Grove Junction.
• The occupiers of No.2 St Ninians Road have made the following comments:
• wish to object to the creation of an access and temporary car park in Nobles Park.
• The trust was set up [for] this park to be used for recreational purposes only.
• We are losing more green areas year by year.
• We should not be encouraging more cars to this area for each event.
• People should be encouraged to walk more and leave their cars at home
• Public transport should be encouraged.
• Even if this car park was set up – this will not reduce the number of cars parking in St Ninians Road and causing upset to people living in this area when they can't park their own cars outside their homes.
• Traffic congestion will increase and possible accidents.
• We appreciate that the application is only for temporary access and car park but see this as only the beginning to ruining the peoples park no matter what materials were used for the car park. The stone wall has been knocked down to create an opening – when was permission granted for this?!
• The occupier of 1 Marathon Terrace, Queens Promenade has made the following comments:
• Nobles Park, St Ninians Church and grounds were bequeathed to the people of Douglas in 1911 under the terms of the will of Henry Bloom Noble Estate and the park is designated as Public Open Space in the Douglas Local Plan.

• Recently there has been approved and under construction a Sheltered Housing Development on the lower part of the church grounds. Also approved has been the creation of a church car park, which has resulted in the much loved and admired Registered Building of St Ninians Church being effectively surrounded by an unimaginative and badly designed and constructed car park. These developments have resulted in the serious erosion of an important open space. Now we have an additional application, adjacent to these developments, to further erode this open space with a temporary car park.

• Douglas Corporation has not clearly demonstrated the need for such a facility other than stating that it is required for various motor events throughout the year. I think that most people would agree that, with the exception of TT week, the existing car parking facilities behind the Grandstand are more than adequate I wonder whether these proposals are perhaps to facilitate the much hyped Music Event promised for the park in 2007? If this is the case why not say so? And surely spectators should be encouraged to walk to such an event.

• In the application, the applicant has not demonstrated the sloping nature of the site, nor the existence of mature perimeter trees which include a line of magnificent mature beech specimens. It does not appear that the safety and welfare of these trees has been taken into account when the application for this site was first proposed. Other attempts at laying plastic mesh elsewhere within the park has been less than successful and resulted in the damage and non-growth of the turf. A natural assumption would be that this will probably be the case in this instance.

• In summary:
• The need for the car park has not been demonstrated
• Safeguards to protect the existing mature trees and turf have not been demonstrated
• There would be a loss of existing sporting facilities;
• The resultant temporary car park would introduce an ugly, discordant and unnecessary feature in a pleasant valuable parkland setting.

• Douglas Corporation should be encouraged to re-instate the walling already breached and if necessary extend the existing car park behind the Grandstand.

• The co-owner of Park View, St Ninians Road has made the following comments:
• Having read thorough the planning application I find it difficult to understand the choice of location for this temporary car park. This area of Noble’s Park is probably the most used area of the park for recreational activities. The choice appears to have been influenced by the fact that the opening in the wall is there already, having been created and not reinstated by the contractor who laid the service ducts across the park.

• It should not be forgotten that this land was bequeathed to the Borough of Douglas in 1911 to be used for recreational purposes.

• There are many more suitable areas within the park which are used very little; viz: the areas between the swings and Upper Dukes Road, and between the mainly unused tennis courts and Upper Dukes Road. Then there is the area of tennis courts opposite No.2 Bowling Green, which is already tarmacedamed surface and has very little use at present. This area would accommodate more vehicles than the proposed area. All the above areas already have access from Upper Dukes Road.

• Finally there is the area forming part of the now defunct miniature golf course between the camper van parking area behind the Grandstand where it has been

extended this year on to part of the area previously being part of the golf course and Upper Dukes Road. This location has a pair of suitably located gates in the fencing off Dukes Avenue.

• During TT fortnight St Ninians Road is one way from Ballaquayle Road to Upper Dukes Road, and is effectively single lane with cars parked on both sides of the road. Vehicles entering or leaving the proposed site would only cause more congestion; particular as the entrance to this area is between a pair of tress and because of the proximity of the pedestrian pathway from the kissing gate in the corner, only a single entrance/exist is available such that vehicles will not be able to enter and leave at the same time.

• The proposed area has a gradient falling towards St Ninians Road; a the entrance point this gradient is approximately 1 in 8, which together with an adverse camber would make entry difficult and exit hazardous. The pedestrian path is only one metre from the left hand tree. In future years there will be some additional traffic following completion of the St Ninians Court Development.

• This area of the park is used throughout the day on most schooldays by St Ninians High School for football, rugby, rounder's and cross country running, etc. Apart from the League soccer played on the top pitch there is considerable amount of other soccer played in this area. A large number of people run seriously in this area and others jog. Corinthians football club conduct a training session for your children on most Saturday mornings. Parents bring their children for a kick-a-about. From this it must be obvious that the area is well used.

• If this area of 1600 square metres is reinforced with turf reinforcement mesh it will create a safety hazard for an person running across it because of the gradient whether in running shoes or football boots. When retrieving a football from this area and because of the gradient balls do need retrieving and since the mesh has a pitch of 27mm x 27mm, if in a kicking a ball back to the pitch a stud were caught in the mesh, then a serious injury could be caused.

• The proposed suppliers literature for the turf reinforcement material, as included with the planning application states that it is suitable for lightweight vehicles and heavy pedestrian use. It does not specifically recommend for recreational and sporting use.

• The site plan as submitted does not indicate the row of trees at right angles to the boundary wall approximately 10 metres from the kissing gate adjacent to the main entrance to the park. Neither does the plan show the path from the kissing gate at the end of the wall opposite Laureston Grove.

• There are sizable tree roots protruding at ground level from at least three trees, which extend approximately four metres, these will cause problems when laying the turf reinforcement.

• Earlier this year turf reinforcement was laid to the two extended area below the grandstand and parking area. IN a considerable number of places the reinforcement is visible at ground level. If this were to occur in the temporary parking area it would only increase the safety risk as outlined above.

• When the proposed temporary parking area was being used it would need some portable barriers to determine the area. However, it permanent fencing were utilised this would then be a permanent barrier (even if only used occasionally for parking) and would reduce the recreational area available in the park by a further 1600 square metres.

• Mr R W Henderson MHK has made the following comments:
• I would wish the Chairman to be aware that I fully support my constituent's objection and concerns in relation to this particular planning application to do with temporary car parking at the lower end of Noble's Park adjoining St Ninians Road.
• I especially wish to endorse the views sent to the Planning Directorate in relation to that of Mr D A Quayle, Park View, St Ninians Road, Doulgas. He encompasses the concerns and objections concisely and as previously stated, I fully endorse my constituent's views.
• Furthermore, during TT fortnight, St Ninians Road becomes one-way and as a result, there is car parking on both sides of the road from Ballaquayle junction all the way round and down this L shaped road to the Upper Dukes Road junction.
• The road was originally made one-way during the TT period due to intense traffic congestion. The road at the best of times is busy in any case, but certainly once it is a temporary one-way system, then it becomes extremely congested and used heavily by traffic during this period.
• If we add into the equation the possibility of a temporary car park as well leading out onto this road, I think you can then begin to see the picture developing, whereby a car park will do little more than make a current bad situation even worse.
• Several years ago the residents of St Ninians Road ran a road safety petition which was submitted to the Department of Highways, outlining resident's extreme concerns about the 'busyness' of this road, and the fact that there are young families living in the area – and the safety of children.
• This situation remains today and is possibly worsened by the increasing traffic on our roads and the use of St. Ninians Road as a cut through. Again, a car park feeding on to St Ninians Road would intensify this unacceptable situation.
• The DoT seem to have failed to recognise this situation in their submissions to the Planning Directorate and, therefore, I would formally raise them with the Chairman and ask for the decision on this planning application to be a Committee Decision – and not a delegated decision at Director level – given the nature of the application and its impact on St Ninians Road.

Assessment

• There are three key issues in the determination of this planning application. These are (a) the principle of the development, (b) the visual impact of the proposed development within the locality and (c) highway safety.
• In respect of the principle of the development, the application site is zoned as public open space in the Local Plan. The proposal would not result in the loss of public open space, as the area would still be used as an area of public open space when the temporary car park is not in use. The applicant has not demonstrated why there is need for a temporary car park. The applicant has stated that this submission is to allow for temporary access to Nobles Park grass areas during major events such as TT week and the Manx Grand Prix and is not to be used as permanent access to the park.
• I do not see any reasoned justification within the application for warranting a temporary car park to be located within an area of public open space. Since there is no justification for a temporary car park I cannot support the application. Therefore, the creation of a temporary car park within this area would be contrary to the local plan.

• In respect of the visual amenities of the area, the proposal will result in a number of vehicles being parked within the Park during events. This would impact on the overall setting of the public open space and will cause impact on the visual amenities of the locality.

• When the proposed area is not in use, the proposed turf reinforcement mesh would give some degree of semi-permanence as a car park. This in the long term would adversely affect the visual amenities of the locality.

• Furthermore, if any areas where not reinforced properly, this would result in areas being eroded away leaving bare area of soil. This has already happened in the informal footpath created from the existing kissing gate adjacent to the proposed works and impacts on the visual amenities of the locality. The use of area by vehicles could result in more severe erosion which will impact on the visual amenities of the locality.

• The application does not show any measures in how the existing trees within the proposed parking area will be protected. However, this is a minor detail and can be dealt with by condition.

• In respect of highway safety, the Department of Transport do not oppose the application, subject to the imposition of a condition requiring the entrance to be offset 25m from the junction of Laureston Grove. In order to achieve the proposed offset this would require new plans to be submitted for consideration as it significantly alters the proposal and may impact on the other mature trees that front onto St Ninians Road. I therefore consider the proposed access to be unacceptable and would be detrimental to highway safety.

Recommendation

I therefore recommend that the application be refused for the above reasons.

Party Status

The Department of Transport and the local authority are, by virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2005, paragraph 6 (5) (c) and (d), considered "interested persons" and as such should be afforded party status.

It is considered that all parties who made representations to the planning application comply with the requirements of Planning Circular 1/06 – Determination of Interested Party Status except the occupier of 1 Marathon Terrace and Mr R W Henderson MHK.

Recommendation

Decision Recommended by the Director of Planning and Building Control: Refused

Conditions and Notes for Approval / Reasons and Notes for Refusal

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions R : Reasons for refusal

• : Notes attached to refusals

R 1. The proposed temporary car park would be contrary to the Douglas Local Plan 1998 in that no justification has been submitted to support the introduction of a temporary car park into an area of Public Open Space.

R 2. The proposed temporary car park would have a degree of semi-permanence as a car park within an area of Public Open Space. This would impact on the overall setting of the open space and will impact on the visual amenities of the locality.

R 3. The proposed vehicular access is considered to be too close to the junction of Laureston Grove. The proposed access needs to be offset by 25 from the junction in order for the access not to prejudice highway safety.