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22/00929/B Page 1 of 5
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Application No. : 22/00929/B Applicant : Mr & Mrs Karel Ver Elst Proposal : Conversion of building from offices (Class 2.1) to residential (Class 3.3) Site Address : The Warehouse 1A Queen Street Castletown Isle Of Man IM9 1PB
Planning Officer: Mrs Vanessa Porter Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 04.10.2022 __
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 General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and in turn the Residential Design Guidance 2021.
Plans/Drawings/Information;
This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 5th August 2022; o Drawing No. JTM2216-P-01 o Drawing No. JTM2216-P-02 o Drawing No. JTM2216-P-04
This decision also relates to Drawing No. JTM2216-P-03 received 26th September 2022
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
THE APPLICATION SITE
1.1 The application site is within the curtilage of The Warehouse, which is a three storey office building located on the Southern side of Queens Street, Castletown. The property is situated alongside a public footpath access to the main beach.
1.2 The site does not have any exterior amenity space apart from a small paved area to the front elevation which provides a public access point to St Mary's Church car park.
THE PROPOSAL
2.1 The current planning application seeks approval for the conversion of office into residential accommodation with the replacement of part of the South elevation to include the bay windows and part of the stonework to the third floor which is to facilitate the installation of three glazed bays with balconies. The glazed bay are to be double glazed aluminium windows to match the existing.
2.2 The proposal also includes frosted glazing to the windows on the first and second storey front elevation.
PLANNING HISTORY
3.1 There are several previous applications upon the site, of which one was for the change of use from office to residential, PA15/00606/B, and one which is made in connection with this application PA22/00930/CON which is for the Registered Building consent for demolition elements to PA 22/00929/B, and was Permitted on the 3rd October 2022.
PLANNING POLICY
4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Mixed Use" on the Area Plan for the South - Map 5 - Castletown, the property is within a Conservation Area but not a Flood Risk Zone.
4.4 Given the nature of the application it is appropriate to consider Strategic Policy 2 which seeks that new development is within our existing town centres, Strategic Policy 10 which seeks that new development is close to existing highway services, Housing Policy 4 which seeks that new housing and Transport Policy 1 which seeks that new development be located near existing public transport links and 7 which seek the provisions of car parking.
REPRESENTATIONS
5.1 The following representations can be found in full online, below is a short summery;
5.2 Highway Services have considered the proposal and state, "After reviewing this Application, Highway Services HDC finds it to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and /or parking. The Applicant is advised that highway licences may be
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necessary for the placing of equipment and / or materials in the highway during works. The Applicant to consider the installation of bicycle storage and, if the lease permits, electric vehicle charging points." (24.08.22 & 28.09.22)
5.3 No comments have been received from Castletown Commissioners at the time of writing this report.
5.4 DEFA Fisheries have considered the application and state they have no concerns. (24.08.22)
ASSESSMENT
6.1 The main issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are:
6.2 PRINCIPLE
6.2.1 When looking at the principle of residential development within a "mixed use" area it is necessary to note that the Area Plan for the South states, "6.6.1 In order to achieve town and village centres which are attractive, viable and full of vitality it is essential to encourage a mix of different uses to locate within the Mixed Use areas. This will include elements of retail, office, light industrial, community facilities, leisure and tourism uses and residential as well as dedicated public spaces which will be a focus for community activity. Uses which are not compatible with residential developments will not be supported within the Mixed Uses areas. Generally there will be a presumption in favour of changes of uses between the range of approved uses."
6.2.2 As such the proposed residential development is deemed acceptable in regards to principle. However, this is not an automatic reason to allow development as further material planning matters as indicated above need to be considered.
6.3 CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE
6.3.1 When looking at the character and appearance of the proposed property in relation to the alterations proposed, the main alteration is the proposed balconies and large amount of glazing to the Southern elevation.
6.3.2 This application is in tandem with PA22/00930/CON, in which regarding the character and appearance of the proposed works the officer states, "The elements being proposed to be demolished as part of the scheme are situated on the south elevation, facing the sea. The elevation concerned is not visible from Queen Street, but is clearly in view from the car park and seating area to the east, as well as the beach. The existing south elevation includes a protruding box bay across ground and first floor levels, an element that is not historic and does not generally contribute to the form or character of this former warehouse dating from the 19th century. Whilst the proposed removal of the gable stonework will clearly remove an element of historic fabric, the proposed replacement of the existing bay with balconies and glazing across the gable width is judged to have a neutral impact. As such the proposal is considered to preserve the special character of the conservation area."
6.3.3 As such whilst views can be seen from several areas of the proposed alteration, they would have a minimal impact upon the overall streetscene and deemed to comply with the relevant policies within the Strategic Plan.
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6.4 NEIGHBOURING AMENITY
6.4.1 The proposed property itself is situated within an area which is zoned as "Mixed Use, Town Centre" which means that there are a variety of uses surrounding the proposed property from retail to offices.
6.4.2 In proposals such as these, concern can lie with the potential to cause disruptions to the immediate and adjoining neighbouring properties. In terms of differentiating an office from residential it is often difficult to define how each would behave. Generally office hours are between the times of 9am to 5pm with the occasional office working out of these hours due to the service they provide. Offices are generally quiet with the potential to not be disruptive. When a property is someone's home they have the potential to be home more, could invite friends or family around and have parties which have the potential to be noisy. In general the majority of people tend to behave well and raise no concerns, although there will always be a percentage that may not behave.
6.4.3 Another item to look at is the general noise and disturbance of the shops surrounding the proposed property. In the close vicinity there are takeaways, supermarkets and bars, all of which would cause their own noise. Whilst this has the potential to be disruptive to the occupants of the proposed property, there are several shops within the area which have living accommodation above them. There is also the factor that anyone who would be occupying the proposed property would know that there would be a certain amount of underlying noise due to its location.
6.5 LIVING CONDITIONS
6.5.1 Turning towards whether the proposal has a suitable living space for future occupants. With regards to parking, this has been discussed below.
6.5.2 It is noted that there is no outside amenity space available within the red-line boundary apart from the balconies to the rear elevation. Whilst this is the case it is not unknown for there to be any amenity space available for applications such as this within the town centre. The property is situated within a very short walk to public amenity spaces such as the beach, and a short walk to the West to open grassed spaces, as such in this regard the proposal is deemed acceptable.
6.5.3 With regards to the amenity space available inside of the property, it can be seen that there is suitable space within the property for the drying of clothes, whether this is by a tumble dryer or via a line. There is an acceptable outlook available from the Ground Floor level from the primary room of kitchen/dining/living room.
6.6 HIGHWAY SAFETY
6.6.1 Turning towards Highway Safety, the proposal is to include several parking spaces within the existing church parking area. Overall Highway Services have no objection to the proposal and as such it is deemed to comply with Transport Policy 7.
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;
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(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: 06.10.2022
Determining officer
Signed : J SINGLETON
Jason Singleton
Principal Planner
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