**Document:** DEC Officer Report
**Application:** 19/00458/C — Additional use of commercial facility as sports/leisure facility
**Decision:** Permitted
**Decision Date:** 2019-06-10
**Parish:** Malew
**Document Type:** report / officer_report
**Source:** https://planningportal.im/a/29267-malew-former-southern-postal/documents/1044007

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# DEC Officer Report

**Application No.:** 19/00458/C
**Applicant:** The Cue Zone IOM
**Proposal:** Additional use of commercial facility as sports/leisure facility
**Site Address:** Former Southern Postal Delivery Office Ronaldsway Industrial Estate Ronaldsway Ballasalla Isle Of Man IM9 2AA Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett
**Photo Taken:** 04.05.2019
**Site Visit:** 04.05.2019
**Expected Decision Level:** Planning Committee
**Recommended Decision:** Permitted
**Date of Recommendation:** 29.05.2019 _________________________________________________________________

## 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 14 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No2) Order 2013 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

- C 2. The site as defined in the application may be used for either a post office sorting facility

- or as a pool, snooker and/or billiards hall. Reason: To clarify the extent of the approval.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This approval relates to the drawings submitted on 15th April, 2019. _______________________________________________________________

## Interested Person Status

Additional Persons

It is recommended that the following body should not be given Interested Person Status as they are not considered to have sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings and are not mentioned in Article 6(4):

Isle of Man Billiards and Snooker Association as they do not clearly identify the land which is owned or occupied which is considered to be impacted on by the proposed development in accordance with paragraph 2A of the Policy, they are not based within 20m of the application site and the development is not automatically required to be the subject of an EIA by Appendix 5 of the Strategic Plan, in accordance with paragraph 2B of the Policy, they do not refer to the relevant issues in accordance with paragraph 2C of the Policy and they have not explained how the development would impact the lawful use of land owned or occupied by them and in relation to the relevant issues identified in paragraph 2C of the Policy, as is required by paragraph 2D of the Policy.

Notwithstanding the above, the submission by IOMBSA is welcome in providing informative background information which is relevant to the consideration of the application. _____________________________________________________________________________

### Officer’s Report

THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE PROPOSED USE IS CONTRARY TO THE LAND USE DESIGNATION IN THE AREA PLAN FOR THE SOUTH

## THE SITE

1.1 The site is part of an existing building located within the Ronaldsway Industrial Estate opposite the Isle of Man Airport. The site also includes a car parking area to the north west which can accommodate around 15 cars off the highway. At the time of the site visit (a Saturday) there were no vehicles parked in this area despite a number of vehicles being parked on the estate road to the north east. - 1.2 The building has a complicated layout with a number of single storey additions added around the edge of the building with the main core taking the form of four mono-pitch roofed elements. The rest of the building wraps around this to the south west and south east. The steam railway line runs to the west of the car park. - 1.3 Access is from the A5 roundabout on the Castletown side of the Airport, past the hotel and industrial units and to this site where the estate road continues round in a loop to join the main estate road. - 1.4 The most recent use of this part of the building was as the Southern Post Delivery Office although the building is currently vacant. THE PROPOSAL

2.1 Proposed is the additional use of the building for a snooker/billiards/pool hall in addition to its lawful use as a sorting office should the proposed use cease to operate (the applicant is the intended tenant). The application has referred to the proposal as for a sports/leisure facility as an additional use to the existing "commercial" use. The existing use is not "commercial" but industrial and the proposal seeks to use only part of the building for their intended purpose. - 2.2 No physical changes to the building are proposed. It is intended that the facility will be one for use by the public, a training centre for youngsters or those wishing to get involved in the sport with European qualified coaches available and a chance for tourism opportunities by reestablishing inter-Island tournaments between the Island, Wales, Scotland, England and the Channel Islands. They confirm they will not be applying for an alcohol licence and suggest that there are no facilities on the Island which bring together all the cue sports or which provide a safe and friendly environmental for young people to play. Downstairs (around 400 sq m) will accommodate snooker and billards and upstairs, pool. There is also proposed to be a small shop selling snooker and pool related items. The applicant has explained that there will be six snooker tables and he will bring his own table for his own personal use and upstairs four English pool tables. He also hopes to put one American pool table of which there is none

- presently on the Island, in one of the spare rooms on the ground floor. The shop will be incidental to the main use as a snooker and pool hall, selling small items such as chalk, tips and novelty items, with some snooker cues and case available, mainly aimed at younger players buying their first equipment and all needing little in the way of storage space.
- 2.3 The times of operation are anticipated to be 1100 - 2300hrs although these may differ if there are competitions.
- 2.4 The application is submitted by a local snooker player who achieved his highest ranking of 75th in the world, former recipient or the Under 21 Sportsman of the year and is an inductee of the Island's Hall of Fame. He is described as highly respected and well known in the snooker community and as such the facility will be run with the emphasis on the highest standards of facilities.
- 2.5 The applicant does not foresee all of the tables being used at once and that many people will car share to come to the premises. He will not hold snooker and pool competitions at the same time. If there are exhibitions, he would sell tickets and manage the amount of people coming in that way.
- 2.6 He explains that he has been looking at a number of premises for over a year and this site is by far the most practical and includes what he considers will be sufficient car parking.

## PLANNING POLICY

3.1 The site is designated on the Area Plan for the South adopted in 2013 as Industrial. The proposed use is therefore contrary to this designation, although land designated for sport or recreation use tends to be larger scale and aimed at sports pitches or indoor court space or sports facilities. the existing snooker and pool facility (Douglas Snooker Club) is based in a residential area and other facilities provided as part of other sporting or leisure operations. PLANNING HISTORY - 4.1 The site and wider building have been the subject of previous applications for alterations and extensions and including the use of another part of the complex as a family centre and nursery - 04/02006/B - approved but apparently no longer used for this purpose.

4.2 Of relevance is another previous application which proposed the use of a building to the north east as a bowling facility, restaurant and leisure facilities 10/00350/B and 07/00032/C to a family leisure centre. A further application for entertainment, leisure adn activities centre was refused in a unit alongside for the following reasons:

The proposed use is contrary to the land use designation on the Southern Area Plan. Whilst it is clear from the approval granted under PA 07/00032 that the principle of leisure uses on the estate is not necessarily unacceptable, in the absence of any information on the type of leisure uses proposed, it is not possible to assess whether the leisure uses proposed, and on the scale proposed are acceptable in this case and would not be detrimental to the use of the remainder of the industrial estate/business park. Also whilst it may be that some form of leisure uses could be considered acceptable on this site, the supporting information with the application is lacking in detail and substance such that it is not clear what type of activities will be undertaken on the site and as such, the level of use and how much parking will be required and how much can be provided such that the spaces will be accessible and usable. As such, it is not possible to conclude that the use could be satisfactorily accommodated on the site and

- as such, it is considered that the proposed use would be detrimental to the amenities of the area and the use of adjacent land for authorised or legitimate purposes due to potential car parking on the estate road and vehicular manoeuvring other than within the site (12/001388/C).

4.3 Planning approval was refused on the same site for a recycling facility due to the following reason:

Whilst the site lies within an area designated for Predominantly Industrial use on the Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Development Plan) Order 1982, the present character of the estate is light industrial and incorporates non-industrial uses such as the children's centre offices and nursery, the post office, the offices at Forrest House and the Sefton Express hotel, which has permission for a significant extension for additional bedrooms towards the application site. In addition, planning permission has been granted for the change of use of the adjacent warehouse to a leisure facility and permission has been granted in principle for a research and development and light industrial development on the land over which the new access is proposed. As such, the introduction of a waste recycling facility as is proposed in this application would introduce a heavier type of industrial use with the potential for noise, dust and heavy traffic nuisance to existing and potential authorised users of the estate (09/00138/B).

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 Malew Parish Commissioners have no objection (01.05.19).

5.2 The Isle of Man Billiards and Snooker Association write in support of the application (14.05.19). They state that they have recognised the need to do more to encourage young people to get involved in their sport and have recently drafted a development plan which has been approved by Isle of Man Sport. This acknowledges a background of declining numbers of players and seeks to address this. They describe the places where snooker can be played (Douglas Snooker Club on Ballaquayle Road, Finch Hill Bowling and Snooker Club on Grosvenor Road, St. Olave's on Hanley Villas in Ramsey, Peel Legion on Douglas Street, Malew Snooker CLub on Mill Road in Ballasalla and Port St. Mary Legion Club on Fort Street in Port St. Mary, providing 14 tables, 6 of which are in Douglas Snooker Club. They acknowledge that clubs have shown little interest in promoting youth development and they welcome the proposed facility for that reason, and that it is in the south which is presently poorly served. They explain that IOMBSA currently only have 3 qualified coaches and they feel that the coaching of young players should not occur where alcohol is served which they understand the applicant understands and supports. They believe that the proposal will help achieve a number of the Association's objectives and they fully support the application. ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The proposed development is not consistent with the land use designation for industrial purposes. As such, the issues are whether the loss of an industrial unit would be unacceptable, whether the proposed use would be incompatible with adjacent land users and whether the use is acceptable in itself including whether the impact on highway safety and car parking would be acceptable.

Loss of the industrial unit

6.2 The relatively recent Employment Land Review makes it clear that there is a longer term shortfall in the amount of land for employment purposes (industrial, offices, storage and distribution) within the Island and the conclusion from this, coupled with the SP policies which generally presume against retail use of industrial premises, is that industrial land should be protected for such uses only. There are, however, no policies which specifically presume against recreational use of industrial premises nor any land which is identified as proposed recreation. Recreation facilities tend to be protected where land is used as outside or large scale recreation - sports pitches, sports halls, tennis courts etc.

6.3 There have been planning approvals granted for the use of industrial units as gyms and for personal training as close as Balthane: in addition, permission was granted for use of a unit not far from this one as leisure purposes although this was not implemented. It is important to note that whilst approval has been granted for alternative, non-industrial uses, the

predominant use and character of the estate is still industrial. As such, whilst there is a small number of non-industrial uses being incorporated into the estate, this neither changes the character of the area nor undermines nor prejudices the use of the remaining units for their legitimate, industrial purpose. It is also relevant that there is no land specifically designated or available within Ballasalla for these other uses and the alternative to them being located here

- or at Balthane Industrial estate would be for the development to be located in the east, which does not assist with the distribution of these opportunities around the Island. Compatibility with other land users

6.4 The use could at times, generate more traffic than its industrial neighbours and potentially some use outside hours when adjacent units will be used (later at night and weekends). The fact that other units are not likely to be used at the same time will reduce any opportunity for conflict but being located at the corner of the site, it is not anticipated that there will be conflict in any case. The former use of the building as a sorting office saw a larger number of vehicles

at the site (post office vans) than would usually be associated with an industrial unit. Acceptability of the proposed use in itself

6.5 The unit will have sufficient car parking available to it and the site, being located in the corner of the area is not likely to generate conflict between users of this facility and other traffic associated with the rest of the units. At the time of the site visit, whilst there were vehicles parked on the estate road, none was parked in the car parking areas indicated on the plans as being available to the application site. There is sufficient provision for access.

## CONCLUSION

7.1 The proposal would make good use of an existing unoccupied building in accordance with the Strategic Aim and Strategic Policy 1 and would provide a facility which does not presently exist in this form on the Island, encouraging people to take up a sport which could result in positive promotion of the Island through the world of sport. That the proposal is supported by the sport's Governing Body on the Island is also a significant factor in its favour. The application is supported.

7.2 It is not considered necessary to attach conditions which control hours of opening as the times of operation are likely to contrast with those of the units operating nearby and where there would be no adverse impact on those operations if the hours of operation were not controlled. There are no residential properties in any proximity to the site.

7.3 It is, however, considered relevant to attach a condition to allow the additional of the site for a snooker, billiards and/or pool hall rather than the more generic sports/leisure facility as the nature of use, impacts therefrom and benefits accruing from the proposal as specifically proposed may be significantly different if it were the premises were to be used for, for example, a children's play area, youth club or other sport or leisure use. INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013 Article 6(4), the following persons are automatically interested persons:

- (a) The applicant, or if there is one, the applicant's agent;
- (b) The owner and the occupier of any land that is the subject of the application or any other person in whose interest the land becomes vested;
- (c) Any Government Department that has made written submissions relating to planning considerations with respect to the application that the Department considers material
- (d) Highway Services Division of Department of Infrastructure and
- (e) The local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated.

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 in Article 6(4) who should be given Interested Person Status.

I confirm that this decision has been made by the Planning Committee in accordance with the authority afforded to it under the appropriate delegated authority.

Decision Made : Permitted Committee Meeting Date: 10.06.2019

Signed : N SALT Presenting Officer

Further to the decision of the Committee an additional report/condition reason was required (included as supplemental paragraph to the officer report).

Signatory to delete as appropriate YES/NO See below

## Customer note

## This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the file copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online services/customers and archive records.

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