69441

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PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No. : 22/00118/C Applicant : Bittylicious (Isle Of Man) Limited Proposal : Change of use of building to an office (retrospective) Site Address : The Chapel Nursery Avenue Onchan Isle Of Man IM3 4HG

Planning Officer: Miss Lucy Kinrade Photo Taken : Site Visit : Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 01.03.2022 __

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

C 1. Within 1 month of this decision becoming final the rear parking area shall at all times be made available for the parking of vehicles associated with the approved use and shall be retained available for such use thereafter.

Reason: To provide off-street parking in the interest of highway safety.

C 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 2019 (or any Order revoking and/or re-enacting that Order with or without modification), the building shall only be used as offices as set out in Class 2.1 of the Order at any time.

Reason: The Department has assessed the impact of the proposal on the basis of the specific use and any alternative uses will require further consideration.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The application fits within the land use designation of the site. Subject to two conditions relating to the rear car parking and the restriction to Use Class 2.1 Offices the proposal is considered to comply with Strategic Policy 9, Business Policy 9, General Policy 2 and Appendix 7 of the IOM Strategic Plan 2016.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This approval relates to aerial photograph, location plan, floor plan, planning statement all date stamped and received 31/01/2022 and an email from the applicant dated 01/02/2022. __

Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None

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Officer’s Report

THE APPLICATION SITE 1.1 The application site is the former Chapel in the centre of Onchan which sits on the corner where Nursery Avenue meets the Main Road. Surrounding the property is a walled boundary which runs along the main road and Nursery Avenue. To the north end rear gable there is an area of off road car parking (11.5m x 5.2m), which joins the small service lane which runs between the chapel and No.1 Nursery Avenue providing access to the rear of the dwellings.

1.2 The building is surrounded by a mix of uses which are typical for a village centre location with these uses including a library, commissioner's office, hairdresser and beauty salon, a Methodist church, youth club and playing fields and a number of residential properties.

1.3 In the past the building has operated as an office under PA 08/01928/B. More recently the building has been operating as a performing arts studio under PA19/00403/C and a subsequent application 20/00446/C which was approved for additional community uses to allow occasional events such as car boot, antiques fairs and art exhibitions.

THE PROPOSAL 2.1 The current planning application seeks approval to now change the use of the building back to an office (Use Class 2.1). The applicants indicate that this application is retrospective with them indicating the use starting 18th January 2022.

PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 Aforementioned in 1.3 the building currently has use as a performing arts studio and prior to this use the building was approved as offices under PA08/01928/B. It is unknown whether the additional community uses approved under 20/00446/C was ever implemented.

3.2 There have also been two other change of use applications at the building 09/00778/B & 09/01481/B both for children's nurseries which were refused for lack of car parking, increase of traffic and the subsequent adverse impact on highway safety. PA87/00587/C was another refusal for the change of use to storage/offices/market.

3.3 PA08/01928/B (office), PA19/00403/C (performing arts) and 20/00446/C (performing arts and community uses) were all approved with condition attached relating to parking at the rear of the building being made available for parking at all times.

PLANNING POLICY 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Mixed Use" on the Area Plan for the East 2020. Strategic Policy 9 and Business Policy 9 both seek to direct office development to existing town centres, while General Policy 2 seeks a number of general standards towards acceptable development including ensuring suitable visual and neighbouring amenity and safeguarding highway safety. Furthermore Paragraph 11.5.2 and Appendix 7 of the Strategic Plan 2016 set out the need for any new office development in towns to provide at least 1 car parking space per 50sq m of floor space, and only relaxing these standards if it can be reasonably demonstrated that there would be no unacceptable on street parking in the area and the site is within reasonable distance of a bus route.

REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the Government's website. This report contains summaries only.

5.1 Onchan Commissioners - no comments received as of 01/03/2022.

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5.2 Department of Infrastructure Highway Services- Do not oppose (10/02/2022) - no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and /or parking. Applicant should explore opportunity for electric charging and cycle parking.

5.3 No comments received from neighbouring properties.

ASSESSMENT 6.1 The application site is designated as mixed use on the area plan and which reflects the centre of Onchan and the variety of shops and services it provides. The principle of the use of the building as office accommodation is acceptable given the flexibility of the mixed use designation and the town centre location of the site.

6.2 Given the scale of the building, the extent of proposed office accommodation and the nature of office development it is considered that the use should not cause unacceptable harm to the public and private amenity of the surrounding area, even more so when compared to the original use as a church and the extant use as a performing arts and community centre all uses which would likely attract more people to the site.

6.3 The proposal does not include any external alterations as so there are to be no visual impacts as a result of the proposal. Minded of the nature of the proposed office operation the proposal is likely to have a reduce amenity impact on the neighbours compared to the current use, not only in terms of noise but also in the likely reduced coming and goings from the site.

6.4 The application submission indicates a floor plan area which requires 2 parking spaces at a minimum and that two spaces are provided at the rear of the building. While the scale of the submitted plan is questioned, previous applications at this site indicate this parking area being approx. 11m x 5.2m. That aside, in this this particular circumstance it should be borne in mind that the current approved performing arts use would have a greater traffic generation compared with the proposed office use but nevertheless the town centre location, the continued re-use of an existing older building and the proximity of bus routes, public car parks, being in walking distance and there being no objection from DOI that these points all way in favour of the proposal and its acceptable highway impact.

CONCLUSION 7.1 Just as the applications before it, the proposal is considered acceptable subject to a condition ensuring the car parking remains unobstructed and available for car parking at all times and restricting the use to offices Class 2.1 as requested. The proposal is considered to comply with Strategic Policy 9, Business Policy 9, General Policy 2 and Appendix 7 of the Strategic Plan 2016.

INTERESTED PERSON STATUS 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019, the following persons are automatically interested persons: (a) the applicant (including an agent acting on their behalf); (b) any Government Department that has made written representations that the Department considers material; (c) the Highways Division of the Department of Infrastructure; (d) Manx National Heritage where it has made written representations that the Department considers material; (e) Manx Utilities where it has made written representations that the Department considers material; (f) the local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated; and (g) a local authority adjoining the authority referred to in paragraph (f) where that adjoining authority has made written representations that the Department considers material.

8.2 The decision maker must determine:

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o whether any other comments from Government Departments (other than the Department of Infrastructure Highway Services Division) are material; and o whether there are other persons to those listed above who should be given Interested Person Status __

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation and that in making this decision the Officer has agreed the recommendation in relation to who should be afforded Interested Person Status

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 02.03.2022

Determining officer Signed : S BUTLER

Stephen Butler

Head of Development Management

Customer note

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