**Document:** DEC Officer Report **Application:** 24/00776/C — Additional use for tourism **Decision:** Permitted **Decision Date:** 2024-09-11 **Parish:** Lonan **Document Type:** report / officer_report **Source:** https://planningportal.im/a/32797-lonan-andania-glen-road-additional-use-tourism/documents/1068746 --- # DEC Officer Report **Application No.:** 24/00776/C **Applicant:** Mr Conor Sullivan **Proposal:** Additional use for tourism **Site Address:** Andania Glen Road Laxey Isle Of Man IM4 7AB **Planning Officer:** Paul Visigah **Recommended Decision:** Permitted **Date of Recommendation:** 10.09.2024 _________________________________________________________________ ## 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. The use hereby approved relates only to the floor area as shown on submitted Floor Plans. Reason: For the avoidance of doubt. This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. Overall, it is considered that there is no demonstrable harm to the living conditions of the neighbouring properties, as it would not be made worse as a result of the proposal. It is also considered that there is to be no impact on the character and appearance of the property, the immediate street scene, or to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area, as there are no physical works proposed. The application is, therefore, considered to accord with the provisions of Environment Policy 35, Business Policy 13, General Policy 2, Transport Policy 7, and Community Policies 7 and 11 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016. Plans/Drawings/Information; This approval relates to the submitted documents and plans all received on 12th July 2024. _______________________________________________________________ ## Interested Person Status 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 APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of 'Andania', Glen Road, Laxey which is a modern three bedroom semi-detached property situated to the Northern end of Glen Road. The property is in close proximity to the Glen Road, Minorca Hill, Breeze Hill, Laxey Bridge crossroads. - 1.2 The majority of the buildings within the immediate street scene are residential with parking mainly on the roadside or some within their curtilages. The property, however, has access to two parking spaces which can be accessed via the rear of the property, through Minorca Hill. - 1.3 A number of the dwellings within the immediate street scene have had approvals for use as tourist accommodation. 2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Planning approval is sought for additional use of the property for tourism. There would be no changes to the external appearance of the building, nor does the scheme propose alterations to the internal layout or position of bedrooms (sleeping accommodation). - 2.2 The applicants have indicated within the Planning Statement that they intend to have the property available for rental all year round except for a few weeks each year when they have friends/family visiting. They further note that they intend to use all rooms for their designated purpose. ## - 3.0 PLANNING POLICY 3.1 Site Specific: - 3.1.1 The site lies within an area zoned as Predominantly Residential on the Area Plan for the East. The property is within a Flood Risk Zone and the Laxey Conservation Area. ### 3.2 Area: Area Plan for the East - 3.2.1 The following parts of the Area Plan for the East are of material relevance to the proposed development: - a. Paragraph 6.2.5: "While the urban environments of the East have their share of problems to be addressed, they also accommodate opportunities: advances in transport technology, especially electric vehicles, will have an impact on the streetscape as charging points become a requisite. This must be accommodated alongside the infrastructure required for the roll out of 5G communication technologies. The development of Douglas harbour into a deep berth has the potential to broaden our tourism offer significantly with impacts on the infrastructure of 49 the Capital and the East more widely. Higher tourist numbers would help to support a distinctive local offer within core retail areas and contribute to dynamic and vibrant town centres." - b. Tourism Proposal 2: "The establishment of new or alterations to, existing tourist accommodation within the settlement boundaries in the East will generally be supported. New development should be of a high design standard, have an active ground floor frontage and be accessible to those with disabilities. They should incorporate, where appropriate, improvements to the public realm, e.g. outside seating, public art and hardy landscaping designed for longevity." ### 3.3 National: STRATEGIC PLAN - 3.3.1 The following policies from the 2016 Strategic Plan are considered pertinent in the assessment of this application; - a. General Policy 2 - General Development Considerations - b. Business Policy 13 - Allows for the use of private residential properties as tourist accommodation provided the use is not harmful to the amenities of neighbouring residents. - c. Strategic Policy 1 - Efficient use of land and resources - d. Strategic Policy 2 - Development focussed in existing towns and villages - e. Environment Policy 10 and 13 - Development and flood risk. - f. Environment Policy 35 - Seeks to protect the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. - g. Transport Policy 1 - Proximity to existing public transportation services - h. Transport Policy 4 - Highway Safety - i. Transport Policy 7 - Parking Provisions - j. Community Policy 7 - Designing out criminal and anti-social behaviour. 3.4 Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act (1999) states, "(4) Where any area is for the time being a conservation area, special attention shall be paid to the desirability of preserving or enhancing its character or appearance in the exercise, with respect to any buildings or other land in the area, of any powers under this Act". ## - 4.0 OTHER MATERIAL PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS 4.1 Section 68 of the Flood Risk Management Act (2013) indicates that any published Flood Risk Management Plan and the extent to which the proposed development creates an additional flood risk are material considerations. 4.2 Policy on the Development of Non-Serviced Accommodation 2019. - 4.2.1 This document is an offshoot of the Isle of Man Non-Serviced Accommodation Futures Final Report (2017). It sets out governments priorities as it relates to tourism, provides a summary of the Non-serviced study, whilst also outlining the current visitor economy strategy, in addition to articulating the Island Policy towards tourism development. ### 4.3 Isle of Man Visitor Economy Strategy 2022-2032 - 4.3.1 The Strategy's headline targets are to grow the annual visitor numbers to 500,000 by 2032 and increase the annual economic contribution of the Island's Visitor Economy to £520m. This will mean attracting an additional 170,500 visitors per year compared to 2019. The aim is to triple the holiday and short break market as well as grow all of the other visitor markets. Combined with an expected increase in average spending per visitor, driven by strong growth in longer staying and higher spending leisure markets, these visitor numbers should result in a more than doubling of annual visitor spending on the Island to £310m, which will support an increase in Visitor Economy jobs to 5,000 and generate an annual Exchequer benefit of £49m. ## - 5.0 PLANNING HISTORY 5.1 The site has not been the subject of any previous planning applications that are considered relevant in the assessment and determination of this application. - 6.0 REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the government's website. This report contains summaries only. 6.1 DOI Highways find the proposal to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and/or parking as the proposal would have a similar or less parking demand to the existing situation (19 Jul 24). 6.2 DOI Flood Risk Management Division have requested that adequate flood evacuation procedures should be displayed and the ground floor should not be used for sleeping accommodation (22 July 2024). - 6.3 DEFA Fisheries have no objections to this development from a fisheries perspective (29 July 2024). - 6.4 Garff Commissioners have no objections to the application (8 August 2024). ## - 7.0 ASSESSMENT 7.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment and determination of the application are: - a. Section 18(4) test - b. The principle (BP 13, GP2, STP 1); - c. Visual Impact (GP 2 & EP 35); - d. The impact on parking provision (TP 7 & GP2); and - e. The Impact on the amenities of the neighbours (GP2). ## - 7.2 SECTION 18(4) TEST - 7.2.1 The property is situated within a Conservation Area, as such it is necessary to test the application under section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act (1999), see section 4.2 of this report, on whether the works preserve or enhance the Conservation Area. - 7.2.2 The proposed additional change of use does not include any external alterations. With this in mind and noting that the additional use of tourist should not alter the Conservation Area as a whole, the proposal will pass the Section 18(4) test by preserving the Conservation Area. - 7.3 THE PRINCIPLE - 7.3.1 In assessing the principle of the proposed development, it is considered that Business Policy 13 indicates that permission will generally be given for the use of private residential properties as tourist accommodation providing that it can be demonstrated that such use would not compromise the amenities of neighbouring residents. In this case, the property is currently used as a residential property, with the application enabling the owners to rent the property for tourist accommodation when they are not occupying the dwelling. This additional use is not considered to be so different from the use as a dwelling in terms of activities within the site, or functioning of the site, given that the use of the existing residential dwelling for tourist accommodation will have similar impacts, whether it is used for tourist or permanent residential use. - 7.3.2 Therefore, it is judged that the additional use of the site for tourism would be acceptable in principle. This is however not an automatic reason to allow development as further material planning matters as indicated previously need to be considered, to determine if the proposal would be appropriate for the site. ## - 7.4 VISUAL IMPACT - 7.4.1 The proposal does not intend to extend or add additional accommodation to the dwelling house but merely seeks the additional use of the existing fabric of the building. Therefore, it is considered the proposal would have a neutral visual impact on the site, and surrounding street scene. This aspect is deemed to be an acceptable additional use that complies with those sections of Strategic Policy 8 and General Policy 2(b) & (c). - 7.4.2 It is also considered that the proposed additional tourist use would serve to ensure that income generated via tourist rentals will be available to support the maintenance of the application property so that it does not fall into a state of disrepair. For that reason, it is considered that the scheme would ensure the continuous maintenance of the property through the income generated and as such can be considered to preserve the character and appearance of the dwelling and in turn the broader Conservation Area; complying with EP35 of the Strategic Plan. ## - 7.5 PARKING/HIGHWAY SAFETY - 7.5.1 With regard to the parking demand for the proposed use, it is considered that the parking demand for a single group of tourists when occupying the dwelling is not so diverse when compared with that associated with the residential use of the property. This is hinged on the fact that there would be no marked difference from the parking demand of a typical household, with there being a possibility for a reduced demand for parking as a good number of visitors do not travel with their cars. - 7.5.2 Further to the above, the applicants (owners) have not proposed to occupy the property with tourists, as the dwelling would either be used as a home or a self-contained tourist unit, so it is not anticipated that there would be a combined demand for parking. Moreover, there is no objection from highway services to the proposal, which indicates that the scheme is acceptable for the DOI Highways perspective. ## - 7.6 IMPACT ON NEIGHBOURING AMENITIES - 7.6.1 In terms of assessing potential impacts on neighbours, it is considered that the use of the existing residential dwelling for tourist accommodation will have the same impact, whether it is used for tourist or permanent residential use. This is hinged on the fact that both tourists and permanent residents have incentives for maintaining a quiet living or organising gatherings which can easily be carried out till late at night, resulting in adverse impacts on neighbours. Therefore, it is unlikely for this change of use to have a significant impact on the living conditions of the neighbouring properties. ### 7.7 OTHER MATTERS: FLOOD RISK AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR - 7.7.1 The additional use as tourist use would not result in any changes beyond current occupation in terms of anti-social behaviour nor increase the likelihood of flood risk or spread of fire beyond the existing arrangement. In these respects, the proposal is considered to be acceptable. - 8.0 CONCLUSION 8.1 It is considered that the proposal would not give rise to an unacceptable impact on amenity or impact on highway safety. The proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2, Business Policy 13, Transport Policy 7, and Environment Policy 35 of the Strategic Plan. Therefore, it is recommended for an 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. 9.3 The Department of Environment Food and Agriculture is responsible for the determination of planning applications. As a result, where officers within the Department make comments in a professional capacity they cannot be given Interested Person Status. _____________________________________________________________________ I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Acting Head of Development Management 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: Permitted Date: 10.09.2024 Determining officer Signed : A MORGAN Abigail Morgan Acting Head of Development Management Customer note This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the office copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online service/customers and archive record. --- *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/32797-lonan-andania-glen-road-additional-use-tourism/documents/1068746*