**Document:** DEC Officer Report
**Application:** 19/00280/C — Additional use of industrial unit (class 5) as a retail unit (class 1) during the periods associated with the Southern 100, TT Classic, TT, Manx Grand Prix, and Rally events from 2019 to 2024.
**Decision:** Refused
**Decision Date:** 2019-05-31
**Parish:** Malew
**Document Type:** report / officer_report
**Source:** https://planningportal.im/a/29970-malew-balthane-industrial/documents/1051137

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# DEC Officer Report

**Application No.:** 19/00280/C
**Applicant:** David Anderson
**Proposal:** Additional use of industrial unit (class 5) as a retail unit (class 1) during the periods associated with the Southern 100, TT Classic, TT, Manx Grand Prix, and Rally events from 2019 to 2024.
**Site Address:** Optical House Harcourt Drive Balthane Ballasalla Isle of Man IM9 2AH
**Photo Taken:** 15.05.2019
**Site Visit:** 15.05.2019
**Expected Decision Level:** Planning Committee
**Recommended Decision:** Permitted
**Date of Recommendation:** 25.04.2019

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 additional use approved shall only be for the duration of each of the Southern 100, TT Classic, Isle of Man TT, Manx Grand Prix, Manx International Rally and Manx National Rally from 2019 to 2024.

Reason: To limit the retail use and parking demand throughout most of the year and to reduce the risk of any permanent retail use.

- C 3.During the approved weeks, the shop shall not be open to customers outside of the hours of 9am-5pm Monday -Friday.

Reason: To ensure that the use approved matches that of what was applied for. _______________________________________________________________

## Interested Person Status

Additional Persons

It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following properties 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 Enterprises, 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, are not 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, and as 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.

## Officer’s Report

THIS APPLICATION HAS BEEN BROUGHT BEFORE PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR DETERMINATION AS IT INVOLVES A DEPARTURE FROM THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN.

1.0 SITE - 1.1 The site is Optical House in Balthane Industrial Estate, a standalone industrial unit towards the west of the estate. The unit is close to Motorcycle sales and repair units as well as a café and general industrial uses. The site building is two storeys with office style glazing on part of the elevations. There is a visitors entrance and lobby on the south east elevation, within which is access to a ground floor reception/office room measuring 12m2. There is also off road parking to the front and side. The site in question was previously used as a motorcycle repair and sales unit.

2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Proposed is the temporary additional use of part of the unit for retail and the selling of snuff and related products. The part of the building in question is the 12m2 office room on the ground floor. - 2.2 The proposal is for 5 years from 2019 to 2024, with opening hours of 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday during the summer racing festivals including one week before and after these events such as the TT, MGP, Southern 100 and other racing events. The room would revert to its original purpose when not in use. 1 or 2 staff would be employed from the store. The case officer contacted the applicant for clarification as to the rally events specified, desired events were not named but the main rally events are therefore regarded as the Manx International Rally and the Manx National Rally (usually May and September).

3.0 PLANNING POLICY - 3.1 The proposal site is situated in an area zoned in the Area Plan for the South as Industrial. - 3.2 The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 sets out some general policies which should be considered when assessing an application in an area zoned as such. General Policy 2 (in part) is key to this application;

"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:

- (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."

3.3 Business Policy 5 is key to assessing the principle of the proposal:

"On land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution; retailing will not be permitted except where either:

- (a) the items to be sold could not reasonably be sold from a town centre location because of their size or nature; or
- (b) the items to be sold are produced on the site and their sale could not reasonably be severed from the overall business; and, in respect of (a) or (b), where it can be demonstrated that the sales would not detract from the vitality and viability of the appropriate town centre shopping area."

3.4 Business Policy 10 further states: "Retail development will be permitted only in established town and village centres, with the exceptions of neighbourhood shops in large residential areas and those instances identified in Business Policy 5." - 3.5 Transport Policy 7 is also relevant: "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards." (Set out in Appendix 7).

## - 4.0 PLANNING HISTORY

4.1 There is no planning history materially relevant to this application. - 5.0 REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 DoI Highway Services oppose the application as "it has not been demonstrated that there would be sufficient spare site parking capacity to accommodate the proposed additional parking demand that would be generated by the proposals. The existing site parking area shown in the application is for all uses within the building and not just the proposed development alone.

In order to remove the highway objection, the applicant should provide car parking surveys at regular intervals throughout a weekday to demonstrate that there would be enough site car parking available to accommodate the proposed additional site parking demand. It would be useful if the applicant could also provide further information to justify the likely level of increased parking demand that would be generated by the development.

Should the application be approved, it is requested that a planning condition is imposed to limit the proposed additional use of the site to the temporary periods only as stated in the application." (23.04.19).

5.2 Malew Parish Commissioners have no objection to the application (03.04.2019). - 5.3 A comment has been received from the Development Surveyor at Isle of Man Enterprises stating the following:

"We would just like to raise that the above application was highlighted as possibly at odds with Business Policy 5 as this use would be better placed on the high street. It doesn't appear to justify a change or use to retail from Light Industrial."

## 6.0 ASSESSMENT

6.1 The key considerations in the assessment of this application are both the matter of principle of the use of part of an industrial unit for retail purposes, and the impact this may have on parking and highway safety.

### 6.2 Principle of the Use

- 6.2.1 Taking into account Business Policy 5, it must first be established as to whether the additional use proposed is a departure from the Development Plan as a non-industrial use, or if it is ancillary to the main use of the building and the sale of the items in questions would not be reasonable in a town centre location. The selling of snuff and related tobacco products would of course be subject to correct licensing, although this is not a planning consideration. Given the temporary nature of the proposal, and the products being sold, a retail unit in a town centre would be both difficult to acquire on a temporary basis and potentially impossible given licensing

- restrictions. The unit itself is used for the distribution and online sales of these same products - the retail use would be an extension of the business to attract European motorcycle enthusiasts as stated by the applicant.
- 6.2.2 It is considered that the small scale nature of such a retail unit, its temporary nature and specific target market linked to users of the nearby motorcycle showroom and café, and the links to the main use of the building, all serve to ensure that the proposed additional use would not result in pressure to allow permanent retail uses in Balthane Industrial Estate.

### 6.4 Parking and Highway Safety

- 6.4.1 Additionally, the applicant has included the following information as part of the application: "We are aiming this 'pop up shop' as an outlet for the European Bike Community. We do not expect tourists to come to us as a destination, but as a consequence of visiting Becky's Bites café (opposite) or Jason Griffiths motorcycle showroom. However, we do have 17 car parking spaces available on our site, which can accommodate 2 or 3 bikes per space."
- 6.4.2 The car parking spaces on the site are not specifically marked on site, and those shown on the Site Plan do not meet the minimum criteria of the Manual for Manx Roads of 5mx2.5m. If this criteria is applied, there would still remain at least 14 spaces for cars, and more for motorcycles. There are no specific minimum parking space numbers for retail uses in the IOMSP parking standards, however given the small size of the proposed retail part of the unit (12m2), the spaces provided would be adequate in ensuring that the Industrial Estate access roads would not be obstructed. In this respect, the proposal complies with GP2. And TP7.
- 6.4.3 Highways comments are noted, however it is not considered that a parking survey would be overly helpful as the periods of operation of the retail use would be times of the year not necessarily reflective of the typical parking demand - particularly during TT. Furthermore, customers are likely to include bikers, and trade would be aimed towards those already in the vicinity rather than attracting hordes of customers all at once.

## - 7.0 CONCLUSION

7.1 In summary, whilst retail uses in industrial estates are discouraged, the small scale nature of the proposal ancillary to the main warehouse/distribution use of the building is regarded as acceptable. Additionally, there would no adverse impact on parking arrangements within the estate and by extension highway safety.

7.2 It is important to emphasise that this permission is temporary only, and for a specific retail use linked directly to the existing industrial use. It should not be taken as an indicator that retail uses in industrial estates are generally acceptable. - 7.3 Conditions imposed on approval should limit the periods of the use to shorter than those requested initially by the applicant in order to prevent an almost inclusive use throughout the summer months.

8.0 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:

- 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 : Refused Committee Meeting Date: 28.05.2019

Signed : N Salt Presenting Officer Further to the decision of the Committee an additional report and a reason for refusal were required. YES/NO See below PLANNING COMMITTEE DECISION 28.05.2019 Application No. : 19/00280/C Applicant : David Anderson Proposal : Additional use of industrial unit (class 5) as a retail unit (class 1) during the periods associated with the Southern 100, TT Classic, TT, Manx Grand Prix, and Rally events from 2019 to 2024. Site Address : Optical House Harcourt Drive Balthane Ballasalla Isle of Man IM9 2AH Planning Officer Mr Nick Salt Reporting Officer As above Addendum to the Officer’s Report The Planning Committee on 28th May 2019 voted to overturn the case officers recommendation for approval in favour of a refusal.

## Reason for Refusal

R 1. The proposal does not accord with Business Policies 5 and 10 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 as there is insufficient justification provided for the establishment of a retail use in an industrial area.

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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*Data sourced from the Isle of Man public planning register under the [Isle of Man Open Government Licence](https://www.gov.im/about-this-site/open-government-licence/).*
*Canonical page: https://planningportal.im/a/29970-malew-balthane-industrial/documents/1051137*