DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No.: 22/01048/B Applicant: Mr David Stockton Proposal: Erection of a double garage Site Address: River House Riverside Ramsey Isle Of Man IM8 3DA Planning Officer: Mr Paul Visigah Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 05.12.2022

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. During Construction, there must be no discharge of surface water to the watercourse abutting the western and southern boundaries of the site.

Reason: To ensure that the watercourse is not adversely affected by the discharge of harmful materials, such as concreate or washings.

• C 3. The garage building hereby approved shall be erected in full accordance with the approved details, and shall thereafter be retained for parking purposes only. The building shall not be used for residential accommodation.

Reason: The Department has assessed the impact of the proposal on the basis of the specific use and the documents submitted.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason.

The proposal is considered to be in accordance with General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, in that no unacceptable visual, residential amenity or other impacts were identified.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This approval relates to the documents and plans received 22 August 2022, and Agents Correspondence received 13 September 2022. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons

It is recommended that the following Government Departments should be given Interested Person Status on the basis that they have made written submissions relating to planning considerations:

DOI Flood Risk Management _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE SITE - 1.1 The application site represents the residential curtilage of River House, Riverside, situated at the western end of Riverside, Ramsey. The dwelling which is a large detached property sits within large grounds with most of its boundary with the neighbours to the east and north enclosed in mature landscaping. The entire western boundary of the site borders the Sulby River. - 1.2 The site is accessed via a lane which also serves a number of other properties; Port Natal and 1-6, Riverside. Riverside which branches off Bowring Road is a private road which is generally single width and unmade. - 1.3 River House is a two storey house with a two storey rear annex and a more modern single storey annex to the rear (north) of this. The single storey annex continues to the east in a part courtyard, providing additional living accommodation and a single garage. Alongside the existing garage is an area of new retaining walls around an area of raised bank.

2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Planning approval is sought for erection of a double garage. The proposed detached garage will be 9m wide, 7.3m long and 3.7m high (from the ground level to the top of its flat roof). The garage will be erected within the newly formed level area alongside the existing garage, enclosed by the retaining walls. - 2.2 The roof of the garage will be covered in grass to continue the lawned area surrounding it at the higher level and the ground around the rear of the garage will be regraded to continue up to the top of the garage walls so the garage will not be visible at all from anywhere other than directly in front of the new structure and from the side only a small amount of the upper part of the wall will be visible and only from within the residential curtilage. - 2.3 The applicants have indicated that the garage will accommodate 2 vehicles and is of sufficient height to accommodate their motorhome which will not currently fit into any of the existing garaging.

3.0 PLANNING POLICY - 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Ramsey Local Plan (1998) as 'Predominantly Residential' and the site is not within a Conservation Area. The site is not within a registered tree area, and there are no registered trees on site. The majority of the site area is within an area susceptible to High Tidal flood risks as indicated on the IOM indicative Flood Maps, although the area of the proposed garage lies mostly outside this area.

3.2 The draft Area Plan for the North and West identifies the house and site of the proposed development as Residential with the remainder of the garden as open space. - 3.3 In terms of strategic plan policy, the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains the following policies that are considered specifically relevant to the assessment of this current planning application: - 3.4 General Policy 2 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;
• (d) does not adversely affect the protected wildlife or locally important habitats on the site or adjacent land, including water courses;

• (f) incorporates where possible existing topography and landscape features, particularly trees and sod banks;
• (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;
• (h) provides satisfactory amenity standards in itself, including where appropriate safe and convenient access for all highway users, together with adequate parking, servicing and manoeuvring space;
• (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways;
• (j) can be provided with all necessary services; (l) is not on contaminated land or subject to unreasonable risk of erosion or flooding; (n) is designed having due regard to best practice in reducing energy consumption."

• 3.4.1 Paragraph 8.12.1: "As a general policy, in built up areas not controlled by Conservation Area or Registered Building policies, there will be a general presumption in favour of extensions to existing property where such extensions would not have an adverse impact on either adjacent property or the surrounding area in general".

3.5 Environment Policy 3: Development will not be permitted where it would result in the unacceptable loss of or damage to woodland areas, especially ancient, natural and semi-natural woodlands, which have public amenity or conservation value. - 3.6 Environment Policy 7 provides guidance on developments situated near a watercourse, wetland, pond or dub, and requires that development which could not be overcome by mitigation measures will not be permitted. - 3.7 Environment Policy 4 and 5 protects ecology. - 3.8 Environment Policies 10: Where development is proposed on any site where in the opinion of the Department of Local Government and the Environment there is a potential risk of flooding, a flood risk assessment and details of proposed mitigation measures must accompany any application for planning permission. The requirements for a flood risk assessment are set out in Appendix 4. - 3.9 Environment Policy 13: Development which would result in an unacceptable risk from flooding, either on or off-site, will not be permitted.

- 4.0 OTHER MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONS

4.1 Whilst not adopted planning policy, DEFA's Residential Design Guidance is a material consideration in the assessment of this application as, "It is intended to apply to any residential development within existing villages and towns, including individual houses, conversions and

householder extensions". Sections 2.0 on sustainable construction, 4.7 on Flat Roof Extensions, and 7.0 which deal with impact on neighbouring properties are considered relevant to the current scheme.

4.2 IOM Biodiversity Strategy 2015 to 2025

• 4.2.1 The strategic aims (In part):

• o Managing biodiversity changes to minimise loss of species and habitats.
• o Maintaining, restoring and enhancing native biodiversity, where necessary.

• 4.2.2 Habitat loss actions "21. DEFA will continue to promote a policy of 'no net loss' for semi-natural Manx habitats and species and ensure that unavoidable loss is replaced or effectively compensated for."

- 5.0 PLANNING HISTORY

5.1 The site has been the subject of two previous planning applications:

• o PA 88/00788/A for Approval in principle to erect a dwelling - Refused.
• o PA 90/00557/B for Alterations and extensions - Approved.

5.2 The existing dwelling has access to an integral double garage. 6.0 REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the government's website. This report contains summaries only. 6.1 Representation from the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) Highways Division confirms that they 'Do not oppose' (9 September 2022).

6.2 DEFA Fisheries confirm that they have no objections to this development from a fisheries perspective, provided that there is no adverse effect on the adjacent watercourse. They note that as the proposed works are in close proximity to the watercourse, precautions will be needed to reduce the possibility of harmful materials such as concrete or washings entering the river (8 September 2022).

6.3 DOI Flood Risk Management have indicated that if this Planning Application is Approved, they would request that the structure is built with Tidal Flood Mitigations and that the structure is not permitted to be used for residential accommodation(19 October 2022). - 6.4 Ramsey Town Commissioners have no objection to the application (3 October 2022). - 6.5 No comments have been received from neighbouring properties.

- 7.0 ASSESSMENT

7.1 The main issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are:

• a. character and appearance (GP2, b, c);
• b. Impacts on the nearby watercourse (EP 7);
• c. Flood Matters (EP 10 and 13);

7.2 There would be no impact on neighbouring amenity due to the nature of the development and the separating distance between the dwelling and any neighbour. The existing mature landscaping on the boundary would also screen the development from any of the neighbours, such that no adverse impacts would result to the neighbours.

7.3 Character and Appearance

• 7.3.1 As has been noted within section 1.0 of this report, the dwelling itself is not readily apparent from public viewpoints, and the proposed garage position even less so. Whilst it is noted that views to the site could be achieved from Poyll Dooey Road over the Pump House

• site, these views would also be significantly constrained by the existing landscaping on the southern boundary of the site and there would be little or no views to the proposed garage given the position within an indent that abuts trees to the south of its proposed position and the fact that it would be erected within a partly walled and gated part of the site. Moreover, its design is such that it would be integrated into the landscape and finished over with planting to reflect the character of the adjoining raised land area around the garage which would further serve to conceal it.
• 7.3.2 In view of the above, it is considered that the proposal would be well-integrated into the existing site character without creating adverse visual impacts, and as such complies with the requirements of General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan.

7.4 Impacts on the nearby watercourse

• 7.4.1 In terms of potential impacts on the nearby river, it is considered that the proposed garage location is situated away from the existing watercourse with the site positioned such that any drainage would flow over and onto the existing hardstanding area for vehicular movement and parking and which benefits from existing drainage and as such it is not considered that the scale would be sufficient to significantly alter the drainage set up and create pollution concerns for the nearby watercourse.
• 7.4.2 Additionally, DEFA Fisheries have indicated that they have no objections to the proposal provided that there is no adverse effect on the adjacent watercourse. As such, a condition would be imposed to ensure that there is no discharge of surface water to the adjoining river during construction.

7.5 Flood Matters

• 7.5.1 With regard to flood matters, whilst the DOI Flood Risk Management team has made comments in relation to the potential for the development to be impacted by Tidal Floods which impacts large sections of the site area, the proposed development area is not within the flood impact area and as such would not be prone to flooding.
• 7.5.2 Additionally, DOI Flood Risk Management has made comments regarding possible residential use of the garage in the future, and have requested that a condition be imposed to control future residential use of the garage. In this case, whilst the garage is not within a flood risk area, the proposed building would sit on the edge of a flood risk zone where any residential use could be impacted. As such, a condition would be imposed to ensure that the garage is retained for its intended use, and not be converted to residential use where the impacts on occupants would be increased over the proposed use for parking.

- 8.0 CONCLUSION

8.1 Overall, it is concluded that the planning application accords with the relevant policies of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and the principles promoted by the Residential Design Guide, and as such is recommended for approval. - 9.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS

9.1 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. 9.2 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 in Article 4(2) 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: 09.12.2022 Determining officer

Signed : C BALMER Chris Balmer Principal Planner

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