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Received 08120b DoLGE06002123 Town and Country Planning Act 1999 PLANNING and BUILDING CONTROL DIRECTORATE
Decision Date and Officer Initials
RECEIVED ON
DEPT. OF SOCIAL GOVERNMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Toilet Block Port Erin Harbour Office Breakwater Road Isle of Man.
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
DATE: 5th December 2006
PREPARED BY:
CH2M HILL
CABLE & WIRELESS ISLE OF MAN REF: 105 – Port Erin Harbour
CABLE & WIRELESS
| Initial | TELECOMMUNICATIONS INSTALLATION | |
| Appeal | FOR | |
| Amended | CABLE & WIRELESS ISLE OF MAN LIMITED | |
| Returned | AT |
Cable and Wireless Isle of Man Limited (C & W) have recently been awarded an Isle of Man (IOM) Mobile Operators License issued by the Island's Communications Commission to provide a mobile phone network and service to the Island's inhabitants and visitors. This service will compete with the incumbent operator (Manx Telecom) and will allow greater choice and competition for the consumers.
The Mobile phone network will consist of a number of sites that have a combination of equipment, such as panel antenna that provide coverage in the vicinity and also transmission dishes that link sites together and with others in the wider network to provide continuous coverage throughout the Island.
Where possible C&W will endeavour to install their equipment on existing infrastructure or radio transmitters. The aim always is to minimise the visual impact of providing this new mobile phone network.
Where this is not possible and it is necessary to introduce additional telecommunications infrastructure onto the Island this supporting statement will justify both why the infrastructure is required and demonstrate that the best possible available site has been identified keeping visual amenity as a priority at all times.
It will also help to explain the decisions which led to the specific location being chosen and what alternatives were discounted.
A variety of supporting information may be included with each application but ultimately the C&W aim is to minimise the number of new structures and the overall visual impact of the network whilst providing sufficient signal strength to provide coverage for customers to take advantage of the C&W services that will become available.
The proposed development will consist of a new replica flagpole made of a galvanised steel monopole with a white shrouded tri sector antenna contained within it.
A metrosite telecoms cabinet is to be placed inside an existing service room within the toilet block not visible to the general public.
See General arrangement drawings for precise specification
The proposed development site is to be located adjacent to and within an existing toilet block next to the harbour offices on Breakwater Road in Port Erin.
The structure has been carefully considered so the proposed structure is designed to be used as a working flagpole. This will replace an existing an existing Wooden flagpole close by on the other side of Breakwater Road.
In order to minimise the effect on visual amenity we have located away from the more densely populated residential and commercial areas of Port Erin's centre to go in an area which 'looks back' into this area but we feel is located less sensitively on the edge of a working harbour.
The site is being used to cover Central Port Erin. This is a difficult area to give coverage as there are no existing Telecoms structures and no available rooftops to provide the height required to cover the area.
Other sites considered include. The Fire Tower on Droghadfayle Road was considered a potential solution but the chief fire officer would not allow us to use the site.
We also considered locating on any of the higher Hotel Structures. However due to the topography of the town and the limited number of suitable structures only 2 Hotels were considered acceptable technically to provide coverage. The Ocean Castle Hotel would not allow us to go on their building and the adjacent vacant building is to be demolished. These two options were therefore also discounted.
The Golf course was also considered but in order to provide suitable coverage a new structure of over 20m was likely to be required and this was not felt to be visually acceptable close to residential properties in and around the Ronway Drive area especially as there was little natural screening available.
We need a site that will cover the commercial centre without impacting significantly on visual amenity and this drew us to the Harbour area. Being away from residential properties and therefore limiting visual impact it also allows us to 'see back' into the main commercial area. Coverage is compromised to a degree by being relatively low in height but the area is felt to offer a suitable compromise between technical efficiency and impact on visual amenity. It is a busy commercial harbour with activity from Boats and Vehicles.
A number of design options were considered at the harbour including locating on the RNLI building at the end of the Breakwater Road. Whilst Manx Telecom are already in situ, the RNLI would not allow us to use the structure.
The area chosen however is considered an excellent option due to the fact that we can locate our cabinet inside an existing structure with no view for the general public and place a sympathetic new flagpole structure on the harbours edge.
This we feel is the best option available to cover this area.
We have met on several occasions with Ian Brooks to discuss various proposals including this site.
Mr Brooks understood in principle why we had come to choose this location. He said that the merits of this particular scheme can be viewed in more detail with a formal application and drawings.
An extra elevation was requested by the planner and this has been included in the general arrangement drawings attached.
We are not aware of any other telecoms applications in this vicinity other than the location of Manx telecom on the RNLI building
Please see the plots provided.
This site will cover the key area of Central Port Erin as well as add to capacity in a busy location. The town and the beach are busy tourist attractions particularly in the summer months and good coverage is essential to this area.
The location of the structure has been carefully considered so the proposal will replicate as best as possible a flagpole style structure. It will be painted white and will not look out of place with the surrounding Quay area which is a busy working port that has numerous vehicles and boats moving in the vicinity.
We are using a Tri Sector antenna in order to achieve this which compromises coverage but enables a slimmer structure to be used and therefore will resemble a flagpole much better.
The ground based telecoms cabinet has been made visually unobtrusive by using a currently vacant service area within the toilet block and is not accessible to the general public.
We have reviewed the draft strategic plan in order that we adhere to the requirements and directives contained therein wherever possible.
The following was particularly noted
1.6.1 "where unusual matters arise, or where there is no Manx guidance, it will often be appropriate and helpful to have regard to legal judgements or advice published in the UK or the EU"
In cases where there is no clear guidance we have followed the UK best practice as outlined in PPG8.
It was evident from the 6 main strategic aims looking at maintaining 'Quality of Life' then there must be a balance between economic progress in the pursuit of "manageable and sustainable growth" 2.3(2) and the need "to protect and improve the quality of the environment" 2.3(4)
This is further highlighted as follows
3.3 (d) - "to protect the individual character of and identity of settlements and to identify and protect those green spaces in built areas which contribute positively to public amenity".
3.4 (c) - "to safeguard and provide for the needs and aspirations of existing and new location dependant businesses".
Within the transport and Communications section it states:
3.5 (h) – “to ensure that the island is well served by modern telecommunications without compromising the protection of our landscape”.
Finally within Transport Infrastructure and Utilities
11.9.2 – “It is important that a balance be struck between the need for a new evolving telecommunications systems to satisfy residential and business demand and the impact that the necessary infrastructure will have on the environment. Measures which may help to achieve a satisfactory balance will include a presumption against visually intrusive masts in sensitive landscapes, the encouragement of mast sharing by different operators and the removal of redundant infrastructure. Exceptions to this policy would need to demonstrate a strategic national need which cannot be otherwise secured by mast sharing or alternative locations.
In all cases during the search and planning consultation we have endeavoured always to compromise our technical requirements with the need to reduce visual impact of the proposed development. We believe this has been satisfactorily achieved in this instance and therefore complies with the requirements of the strategic plan.
Under the Planning Scheme Development Plan Provisional Order 1982 the site is ‘existing industrial use’. We therefore expect the land designation to be relatively suitable for this use.
This site has been designed in accordance with the current mainland UK Cellular operators guidance for both Occupational & Public ICNIRP compliance. Our design consultants are satisfied that this site design complies with the above guidelines and therefore a signed ICNIRP certificate is enclosed with this application.
1) Isle of Man Government Statutory Boards, Offices & Agencies Plans 2006-2009. Volume 3.
Page 25, under Communications Commission Aims & Objectives Section:
Objective: Social inclusion – To enhance access to services for the whole population: “We will enforce universal service obligations by telecoms operators with significant market power. They must provide telephone services throughout the Island,”
We consider in summary therefore a) There is a definite need for the site to provide important coverage to the centre of Port Erin. b) The siting and appearance has been carefully considered to provide the least visual impact as possible
The design proposed represents both the optimum planning/environmental and technical solution in this instance. As such the development as proposed is in accordance with planning guidance as defined above
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