Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No.: 25/91111/C Applicant: Ballakeighan Investments Limited Proposal: Additional use of existing self-contained tourist apartments (rear flats 1, 3 and 5) as residential (Class 3.4) Site Address: Flats 1, 3 & 5 Kittiwake House Promenade Port Erin Isle Of Man IM9 6LE Planning Officer: Vanessa Porter Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Refused Date of Recommendation: 24.02.2026 _________________________________________________________________ Reasons for Refusal R : Reasons for Refusal O : Notes attached to reasons R 1. The proposal does not provide a suitable pleasant clear outlook from the proposed apartments as the apartments would have all their windows, including the principle rooms facing either the neighbouring outrigger or to the rear of the site, with the primary windows for these apartments offering no pleasant or clear outlook for future occupants. Accordingly, the proposal would be contrary to Housing Policy 17, Paragraph 8.13.3, and General Policy 2 (h) which requires a residential property to "Provide satisfactory amenity standards in itself. _________________________________________________________________ Right to Appeal It is recommended that the following organisations should NOT be given the Right to Appeal: Highway Services - No Objection Port Erin Commissioners - No Objection

_________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report THE SITE

1.1 The site is the curtilage of "Kittiwake House," Promenade, Port Erin which is a mid terrace 4 storey property which is situated to the East of The Promenade. The property currently has six self-contained tourist apartments plus a ground floor apartment.

• THE PROPOSAL
• 2.1 The currant planning application seeks approval for the additional of use of three of the existing self-contained tourist apartments for residential.

2.2 Apartment one is to provide a combined kitchen/ dining area, two bedrooms, lounge and separate bathroom. - 2.3 Apartment three is to provide a combined kitchen/ dining area, two bedrooms, lounge and separate bathroom. - 2.4 Apartment five is to provide a combined kitchen/ dining area, one bedroom, lounge and separate bathroom. - 2.5 The application states the following regarding the proposal, "02.7 Description - Nature of Proposal The existing internal layout, which is to remain, has one residential apartment to the ground floor for a building manager, with the remaining six self contained apartments for tourism use arranged as two per floor over the three floors above. Each floor has an apartment at the front of the property plus an apartment within the rear outshot.

It is proposed that the three rear apartments on the first, second and third floors have additional use for permanent residential. The proposal is for no external alterations, the scale, massing and materials of the existing building being consistent with the surrounding character of the area."

2.6 The application also states in part the following with regarding to amenity standards and vehicular arrangements, "The front facing apartments have panoramic views of Port Erin Bay and the sea. The rear apartments have views of the rear yard, rear lane and at third floor level distant oblique views of the hills.

Clothes washing and drying is provided by space, plumbing and power for a washing machine and tumble drier with refuse storage provided in the rear yard. Apartment one has a washing line in the rear yard. Recycling of waste will take place via small recycling boxes."

"The existing arrangements are retained as, due to the nature of the location of this property, it is not possible to provide on site vehicular car parking. Parking is available to the front of the property in an unrestricted parking zone and there is also a nearby public car park. Secured and sheltered spaces for bicycles are provided in the rear external store, by arrangement and accessible via a rear access route. This makes best use of the available space."

PLANNING POLICY

4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Predominately Residential" on the Area Plan for the South, Map 7 - Port Erin/Port St Mary. The site is not situated within a Conservation Area nor a Flood Risk Zone. - 4.2 AREA PLAN FOR THE SOUTH

• 4.2.1 The following paragraphs are relevant from the Area Plan for the South, "6.29.1 - There are currently a number of tourist premises throughout the Southern Area, ranging from self-catering, bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation. Historically, much of the tourist accommodation was located in large seafront hotels in Port Erin and Port St Mary. The demand for this type of accommodation is now in decline and many of these large hotels have now closed allowing for re-development/ conversion of the sites to take place where appropriate. This has resulted in an overall reduction in bed spaces in the South of the Island and in many cases former hotels have been replaced by apartments. The Department of Economic Development's approach is to support the retention of the development of tourist accommodation but will generally agree to the loss of tourist premises, where it is clearly demonstrated that they are no longer commercially viable."

- 4.3 ISLE OF MAN STRATEGIC PLAN 2016

• 4.3.1 The following policies from the 2016 Strategic Plan are considered pertinent to the assessment of this application: General Policy 2 - General Development Considerations. Environment Policy 4 - Protects ecology and biodiversity/important habitats. Environment Policy 42 - new development should be designed to take into account the character and identity of the area. Housing Policy 1 - Refers to housing needs which includes enabling 5,100 additional dwellings (net of demolitions), and including those created by conversion, to be built over the Plan period 2011 to 2026. Housing Policy 4 - New housing will be located primarily within our existing towns and villages, or, where appropriate, in sustainable urban extensions of these towns and villages. Housing Policy 17 - Deals with the conversion of buildings into flats/apartments. However, its principles would be applicable to the current application which seeks to erect a new block of apartments in a built up area, particularly in relation to outlook, amenity space provisions, parking, and traffic management.

• Strategic Policy 1 - Efficient use of land and resources.
• Strategic Policy 2 - Priority for new development to identified towns and villages.
• Strategic Policy 3 - Development to respect the character of our towns and villages.
• Strategic Policy 4 - development proposals must protect or enhance the nature conservation and landscape quality of urban as well as rural areas.
• Strategic Policy 5 - Design and visual impact. Strategic Policy 10 - development should promote integrated journeys, minimise car use and facilitate other modes of travel. Transport Policy 1 - Proximity to existing public transport facilities and routes, including pedestrian, cycle and rail routes important for new development. Transport Policy 4 - New and existing highways which serve any new development must be designed so as to be capable of accommodating the vehicle and pedestrian journeys generated by that development in a safe and appropriate manner, and in accordance with the environmental objectives of this plan. Transport Policy 7 - Parking considerations/standards for development. Community Policies 7, 10 and 11 provide guidance in respect of minimising criminal activity and reducing spread of fire, while Infrastructure Policy 5 deals with methods for water conservation.

4.4 OTHER MATERIAL PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS

• 4.4.1 The Residential Design Guidance (2021) is also a material consideration and provides advice on the design of new houses and extensions to existing properties, as well as how to assess the impact of such development on the living conditions of those in adjacent residential properties and sustainable methods of construction. REPRESENTATION
• 5.1 The following representations can be found in full online, below is a short summary;

5.2 Highway Services have considered the proposal and raise no objections, stating the following comments, "After reviewing this Application, Highway Services HDC finds it to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and/or parking as the proposed use would have a similar parking demand to the existing use being located sustainably in Port Erin centre." - 5.3 Port Erin Commissioners have considered the application and raise no objections, stating the following comments, "The Board agreed that this is exactly what Port Erin needs and provides much needed options to support people living in the village on a long term basis."

ASSESSMENT

6.1 The main issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are;

• - Principle
• - Impacts on parking

• - Neighbouring amenity
• - Amenity standards for future occupants

- 6.2 PRINCIPLE

• 6.2.1 The application site is situated within Port Erin settlement boundary and is situated within a "predominantly residential" land zoning. The site is also situated near to other residential dwellings, conditions which would ensure that the proposed residential use here would broadly align with Strategic Policy 1 and Housing Policy 4.
• 6.2.2 Overall, in terms of the acceptability of the use of the site for residential, it is concluded that the proposal will align with the land zoning at the time, and the proposal of additional use as residential would be acceptable in principle. It is, however, worth noting that the factors highlighted above do not in any way denote automatic approval for residential use of the site, given that the proposed residential use would be acceptable for the site, and that the proposal would not have any impacts within regards to the amenity for future occupants, parking, highway safety nor neighbouring amenity. Therefore, it still remains necessary to assess the proposed residential use against other relevant planning policies and the physical constraints of the application site.
• 6.3 IMPACTS ON PARKING

• 6.3.1 In terms of parking provisions, it is considered that there are no parking space allocations for the apartments. However, the site is close to existing public transport corridors within Port Erin. Moreover, the property is within walking distance to the town centre and a variety of amenities, meaning further relaxation of parking standard is acceptable. Combined with the provision of cycling storage within the store to the rear of the yard, it is considered that the impact on-street is acceptable.
• 6.3.2 In addition, Highway Services have considered the proposal and do not have any objections, noting that the parking would be the same whether tourist accommodation or residential.

- 6.4 IMPACT ON NEIGHBOURS

• 6.4.1 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.
• 6.4.2 Overall from a neighbouring point of view, 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.

- 6.5 AMENITY STANDARDS FOR FUTURE OCCUPANTS

• 6.5.1 When looking at the addition of residential use to the apartments, its important to note that there is a difference in the amenity one might expect to be provided from a tourist unit and the amenity one might expect that a residential apartment should afford, such considerations include the level of privacy provided between properties, the amount of internal and external space allocated to the property, the convenience of service space such as bin storage and car parking and the level of shared facilities with other apartments.
• 6.5.2 With the above in mind Housing Policy 17 is the most relevant policy which seeks a) adequate space can be provided for clothes-drying, refuse storage, general amenity, and, if practical car parking, b) the flats created will have a pleasant clear outlook, particularly from the principle rooms and c) if possible, this involves the creation of parking on site or as part of an overall traffic management strategy for the area.
• 6.5.3 When looking at part a) a lot of this has been discussed above specifically with regards to parking. It's noted that the planning application states the following, "Clothes washing and

• drying is provided by space, plumbing and power for a washing machine and tumble drier with refuse storage provided in the rear yard. Apartment one has a washing line in the rear yard." With this in mind, the proposal would meet part a) of Housing Policy 17.
• 6.5.4 Turning to part b), where each apartment needs to have a "pleasant clear outlook, particularly from the principle rooms." Whilst there is no definition of principle room within the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, the Residential Design Guide does provide us with the following, "In assessing the above issues it is important to understand the functions of different rooms and the importance of the windows serving them. For the purpose of this document, the Department defines three types of rooms; Primary Habitable Rooms

• - Living Rooms, Dining Rooms, Kitchens including dining facilities and Conservatory; Secondary Habitable Rooms
• - Bedrooms and Kitchens; and Non Habitable Rooms
• - these include bathrooms, utility rooms, hallways/corridors, stairs/ landings, garages, porches, and storage."

• 6.5.5 With the above in mind and when looking at the floor plans provided, the kitchen/ dining room for each apartment has windows which face South towards the "Bay View Hotel's" outrigger, which when the site was visited could be seen to be three storey's itself and even further out than the outrigger on "Kittiwake House." Having measured the distance between outriggers and in turn windows within "Kittiwake House" and the outrigger of "Bay View Hotel" on the government mapping system, the distance ranges from approximately 2.99m to 1.95m the closer you get to the rear alleyway.
• 6.5.6 Turning towards the living rooms provided in each apartment which are situated to the Eastern side of the property, these have two windows within them, one which faces South and one which faces East, with the distance between the window to the east and "Mona House" which is situated to the East of the window across an alleyway, is approximately 4.39m to 4.74m.
• 6.5.7 There is specific emphasis in Paragraph 8.13.3 which serves to give clarity to the elements of Housing Policy 17 is clear that the accommodation created from the conversion of buildings must generally be organised so that every apartment has an outlook from the front of the building, and so that no apartment is contained entirely within an "outrigger," withy the exception only made to this general approach where the environment at, and the outlook from, the rear are pleasant and open; a situation that the current proposal would entirely be at variance with.
• 6.5.8 Whilst it's noted when looking at the floor plan that the principal rooms within the front of the property have a similar outlook (overlooking the rear yard), it's noted that the bedrooms have a clear outlook and as such could be used as lounges with a pleasant clear outlook. Even if rooms were moved around within the rear outrigger, there would be no rooms with a pleasant clear outlooking and accordingly, the application would fail Housing Policy 17 in this regard.

CONCLUSION

7.1 The proposal would meet the overall principle of a residential use due to its siting within an area zoned as "predominantly residential." The general amenity with regards to Housing Policy 17 and the living standards of the proposal, are deemed acceptable with the internal space being a suitable size and with areas to wash/ dry clothing.

7.2 Then considering the impact on any future residential occupants. As stated above, there is an important difference between the amenity one might expect to be provided by a tourist unit and the amenity that a residential property should be afforded. When looking at the amenity standards for the proposed apartments, whilst it is understood that there would be available external amenity space within the locality due to the property being situated a short walk to the Port Erin beach, it is considered that the quality of the internal spaces for the apartments would be inadequate, especially for apartment 1 which is situated on first floor level, as all the apartments are contained entirely to the rear outrigger, and there would be no pleasant clear outlook from the primary rooms. This element of the proposal is therefore considered to be

contrary to Housing Policy 17 (b), Paragraph 8.13.3, and GP 2 (h), in terms of amenity of future occupiers within the apartments.

RIGHT TO APPEAL AND RIGHT TO GIVE EVIDENCE

8.1 The Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 sets out the process for determining planning applications (including appeals). It sets out a Right to Appeal (i.e. to submit an appeal against a planning decision) and a Right to Give Evidence at Appeals (i.e. to participate in an appeal if one is submitted).

8.2 Article A10 sets out that the right to appeal is available to:

• o applicant (in all cases);
• o a Local Authority; Government Department; Manx Utilities; and Manx National Heritage

that submit a relevant objection; and o any other person who has made an objection that meets specified criteria.

8.3 Article 8(2)(a) requires that in determining an application, the Department must decide who has a right to appeal, in accordance with the criteria set out in article A10. - 8.4 The Order automatically affords the Right to Give Evidence to the following (no determination is required):

• o any appellant or potential appellant (which includes the applicant);
• o the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, the Department of Infrastructure and the local authority for the area;
• o any other person who has submitted written representations (this can include other Government Departments and Local Authorities); and
• o in the case of a petition, a single representative.

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 and/or rights to appeal.

Decision Made : Refused Date: 25.02.2026 Determining Officer

Signed : C BALMER Chris Balmer Principal Planner

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