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22/00776/C Page 1 of 5
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Application No. : 22/00776/C Applicant : Ms Jenny Grainger Proposal : Proposed additional use of residential dwelling as tourist accommodation Site Address : 5 Springfield Terrace Castletown Isle Of Man IM9 1AW
Planning Officer: Mrs Vanessa Porter Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 01.09.2022 __
Conditions and Notes for Approval
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
C 1. The development hereby approved shall be begun before the expiration of four years from the date of this decision notice.
Reason: To comply with Article 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.
This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The proposal complies with Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act (1999) and Environment Policy 35, General Policy 2, Strategic Policy 8, Environment Policy 22, Business Policies 11 and 13 and Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.
Plans/Drawings/Information;
This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 23rd June 2022: o Drawing No. 01 o Drawing No. 02 o Drawing No. 03
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
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Department for Infrastructure's Flood Risk Management Team should be afforded interested person status as they are a Government Department which has raised material planning considerations. __
Officer’s Report
APPLICATION SITE
1.1 The application site is within the curtilage of 5 Springfield Terrace, Castletown which is a two storey with rooms within the roof traditional terrace cottage, which is situated to the Western side of Hope Street.
PROPOSAL
2.1 The current planning application seeks approval for the additional use of the property as tourist accommodation.
2.2 There are no physical works proposed.
PLANNING HISTORY
3.1 There are no previous applications considered materially relevant.
PLANNING POLICY
4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Predominantly Residential" on the Area Plan for the South, Map 5 - Castletown. The site is within a Flood Risk Zone and a Conservation Area.
4.2 Given the nature of the of the land designation and the property being within a Conservation Area, Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act (1999) is the most relevant in the assessment of this application. Followed by paragraph 7.29.2 and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan, which set out development in Conservation Areas will only be permitted where they preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the area.
4.3 With regards to the proposed tourist use of the property, the following Strategic Policies are relevant, General Policy 2, Strategic Policy 8, Environment Policy 22, Business Policies 11 & 13 and Transport Policy 7 from the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 which set out the general standards towards acceptable development, the acceptability of tourist development provided it does not adversely affect the surrounding area, that neighbouring amenity is not compromised and that there is the recommended amount of parking space available.
4.4 It is necessary also to assess the application under Environment Policy 10 which seeks a flood risk assessment and mitigation measures for any property situated within a flood risk zone.
REPRESENTATIONS
5.1 The following representations can be found in full online;
5.2 Highway Services have considered the proposal and do not oppose but suggest the applicant install bicycle parking storage and electric vehicle charging point. (27.7.22)
5.3 Castletown Commissioners have considered the application and have no reason to raise an objection. (3.09.22)
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5.4 DOI Flood Risk Management have considered the application and state that they do not oppose subject to conditions, which would be "FRM would like to see flood mitigations as a condition to the application (Water tight doors etc)." (18.07.22)
ASSESSMENT
6.1 The main issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are:
6.2 SECTION 18(4) TEST
6.2.1 Due to the proposed works being in a Conservation Area it is necessary to test the application under section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act (1999), see section 4.2 of this report, on whether the works preserve or enhance the Conservation Area.
6.2.2 The proposal will pass the Section 18(4) test by preserving the Conservation Area by a) not proposing any alterations to the exterior of the property and b) the likelihood that the property will be maintained at a higher standard if rented out to tourists being high.
6.3 TOURIST USE
6.3.1 It is difficult to assess how an individual person would behave whether they be a tourist or permanent resident. As a tourist, a person may be out a lot of the time, but may also have greater late nights and be disruptive on return. On the other hand, permanent residents may be at home more of the time, but be more likely to invite friends or family over for dinner or parties that may be noisy. In general terms, however, the majority of people tend to behave well and raise no concerns, although there will always be a percentage that might not, whether they are a permanent resident or otherwise.
6.3.2 Business Policy 13 indicates that permission will generally be given for the use of private residential properties as tourist accommodation providing that it can be demonstrated that such use would not compromise the amenities of neighbouring residents.
6.3.3 The property is currently being used as a residential property of which the additional use of this application will enable the owners to part-rent the property for tourist accommodation. The dwelling is within a residential use and located very close to the main village. The site is therefore subject to a certain level of noise disturbance by dint of its location.
6.3.4 It is considered therefore deemed that the use of the existing residential dwelling as tourist accommodation would have a similar impact, whether it is used for tourist or permanent residential use and therefore would not have a significant impact upon the living conditions of the neighbouring properties.
6.4 HIGHWAY SAFETY
6.4.1 With regards to parking space, of which Transport Policy 7 in connection with Appendix 7 states that the property should have two parking spaces, which it doesn't have due to its location upon the sea front. Whilst this is the case, there is parking available along Bridge Street and the property is close to the main Castletown town centre which has bus and other travel links available.
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6.5 FLOOD RISK
6.5.1 Turning towards the fact that the property is within a tidal flood zone and the request from the Flood Risk Management Division. The application before us is difficult to assess on this part, generally it should be understood that there would be mitigation already in place but having discussed this with the agent on behalf of the applicant, this isn't the case.
6.5.2 The officer requested that the applicant put some sort of provisions in place for flood mitigation but the agent on behalf of the applicant confirmed that the applicants were not willing to do this and were putting their faith in the Government installed flood defences.
6.5.3 It is disappointing that the applicants we're not willing to put a flood mitigation in place to protect their homes, with there being a wide variety of ways this could be done. Whilst this is the case, on a basis of use, the change to tourist should not increase the possible flood risk of the area and as such would comply with the Strategic Policies.
6.6 OTHER MATTERS
6.6.1 The additional use as tourist use would not result in any changes beyond current occupation in terms of an increase in water usage, criminal activity nor increase the likely hood of spread of fire beyond the existing arrangement, and so the proposal is considered acceptable in these respects.
CONCLUSION
7.1 For these reasons the proposal is considered to comply with the relevant polices of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and there is no demonstrable harm arising from the application. The living conditions of the neighbouring properties are not to be made worse as a result of the proposal and there is to be no impact on the designated Conservation Area. The application is recommended for approval.
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: 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 __
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I can confirm that this decision has been made by a Principal Planner 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: 02.09.2022
Determining officer
Signed : J SINGLETON
Jason Singleton
Principal Planner
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