DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No.: 22/00861/C Applicant: Marown Memorial Planning Fields Ltd Proposal: Additional use of Childcare or Education (class 4.2) as well as existing Community Facilities use (class 4.3) Site Address: Millennium Hall Old Church Road Crosby Isle Of Man IM4 2HA Enforcement/Planning Assistant: Ms Charlotte Gatt Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 24.08.2022

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.

• C 2. The use hereby approved shall only be undertaken: 08:00-18:00 between Monday to Friday; The use shall not be undertaken at any time on Public Holidays.

Reason: To ensure that the development is undertaken in accordance with the application details and in the interest of protecting neighbouring living conditions.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and therefore acceptable.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision hereby approved relates to drawings and documents submitted to the Department titled:

• DRG MH01 Location Plan
• DRG MH02 Site Plan
• DRG MH03 Part Floor Plan & Planning Statement

All recorded as being electronically received by the Department on 30th June 2022. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons None _____________________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report THE APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is the Marown Millennium Hall which is part of a group of buildings all situated on the western side of Old Church Road, to the south of the A1 in Crosby. The group includes the Bowling Club building and green, the Hall Caine pavilion and associated sports pitches to the south along with a BMX track. To the south runs the Heritage Trail public footpath which follows the former route of the steam railway line from Douglas towards Peel. - 1.2 The surrounding area has a mix of uses, including, retail, a coffee shop, sports club, religious and residential. The Millennium Hall is sited just off Church Road, behind an adjacent Hall Caine pavilion which compromises of some changing rooms. - 1.3 The application building is used as a multi-functional community facility. One of the current uses in place is the use of the building for a 'Play Group' which operates between school term time hours of 8.30am until 4pm. THE PROPOSAL

2.1 The current planning application seeks approval to add an official use of Childcare or Education (class 4.2) as well as existing Community Facilities use (class 4.3). This would extend the opening hours to all year round: Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, with the exception of the period between 24th December - 1st January inclusive and closed all UK and Manx bank Holidays. PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 The site has been the subject to a couple of previously approved planning applications that could be considered to be materially relevant in the assessment of this planning application:

• 3.1.2 19/00509/B - Alterations and erection of extension - Permitted

• 3.1.3 02/02065/B - Alterations and extension - Permitted And the original planning application for the erection of the Millennium Hall:
• 3.1.4 00/00146/B - Erection of millennium community hall incorporating sports changing rooms, Marown Memorial - Permitted (28.07.2000)

PLANNING POLICY

4.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Development Plan) Order 1982 as Public Open Space. On the Area Plan for the East 2020 the site is designated as Open Space/Open Space for particular purposes. The proposed use is consistent with that.

4.2 Of specific relevance to the assessment of this application is General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 which states "Development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and proposals in the appropriate Area Plan and with other policies of this Strategic Plan will normally be permitted, provided that the development:

• b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them;
• c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape; g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;

• n) is designed having due regard to best practice in reducing energy consumption."

REPRESENTATIONS All represetentations can be read in full online. This report contains summaries only.

5.1 Highway Services considered the application and commented the following: - After reviewing this Application, Highway Services HDC finds it to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and /or parking. (25.07.22)

5.2 Marown Parish Commissioners have raised no comment to the proposal. (21.07.2022)

5.3 No comments from neighbouring properties have been received at the time of writing this report. ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are whether the increase of the nursery opening times will increase the impact on the existing highway services and how the additional use might affect the character or amenity of the local area taking into account the residential living conditions of neighbouring properties.

6.2 Highways

• 6.2.1 Highways Services have found the application to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and /or parking.

• 6.2.3 The extension of hours and opening times in relation to the already existing use, would not be considered to be detrimental on the already existing car park and drop of area.
• 6.2.4 The application is deemed acceptable in terms of the above matters.

6.3 Character of Area

• 6.3.1 As stated within part 1 of this report the area is surrounded by a wide range of uses and the building itself lends to a community hall feel. There are no proposed changes to the building external appearance of the building, so with this in mind the application does not alter or harm the character of the area.

6.4 Residential Amenity

• 6.4.1 As outlined in the applicant's planning statement, the current use of the building does already facility a childcare play group. The additional open hours would not raise any concerns, nor have any neighbouring properties provided comment to say otherwise. It is considered that residential amenity will not be affected in this matter.

6.5 The officer has assessed the considerations made for the application and the proposal is deemed to satisfy the criteria that the scale of operation is appropriate for the specific site and the surrounding area. A condition to limit the number of children on this site is not necessary as part of this application as the site, parking provisions, proximity to neighbouring properties and the accessibility of certain aspects required for a nursery would limit the amount of children naturally.

CONCLUSION

7.1 For the above reasons the proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and therefore acceptable. 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

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: 01.09.2022 Determining officer Signed : J SINGLETON Jason Singleton Principal Planner

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