A6 Employment Land Supply
o. In July 2017, a decision was made not to proceed with any Development Orders for employment land. The work had become contemporaneous with the preparation of the Area Plan, and so was subsumed within it. Good planning is not achieved by separate projects, but by a holistic and joined-up approach.
p. Notwithstanding, the interim findings of the Employment Land Project showed that site BE002 and BE006 off Cooil Road and Sites DE002 and DE004 at the Nunnery had potential for use as employment land. This Draft Plan identifies these sites as Proposal Sites alongside a number of others.
A7 General allocations
q. In order to ensure sufficient land is allocated in the Area Plan to respond to the identified employment land need it is important to discount a proportion of the gross area of sites to take account of areas which should be set aside for green infrastructure (e.g. strategic scale landscaping). Therefore, sites were discounted as follows (unless a site specific constraint was identified which would reduce the net developable area further):
- Sites of 3 to 10 hectares = 80%; and
- Sites of over 10 hectares = 70%.
r. It is also important to note that not every site that is allocated be taken up and, even where development commenced, the site may not be fully built out during the plan period. This latter point is more likely to impact on larger sites. Therefore, the net developable area of sites is discounted in assessing the contribution to meeting the demand previously identified in this Chapter as follows:
- Sites of 0.3 to 3 hectares = 80%;
- Sites of 3 to 10 hectares = 70%; and
- Sites over 10 hectares = 60%
Recommendations set out in the Retail Study 2009
- The recommendations of the Retailing Study Report stress that whilst there is expenditure potential for additional comparison goods floorspace, it is recommended that the focus of activity lies on improving the quality of town centre retailing and leisure environment and that the majority of new comparison goods floorspace should be located primarily within Douglas.
- The large majority of any future retail floorspace requirement in the Isle of Man should be provided in Douglas and the other key centres of Peel, Ramsey and Castletown.
- The majority of projected future convenience and comparison goods requirements in the Isle of Man are (or can be) met through a combination of the town centre or edge of centre sites in Douglas, Peel, Ramsey and Castletown.
- The majority of any new floorspace should be distributed primarily to town centre or edge-of-centre locations in Douglas - for example, Strand Street and the existing shopping core and Douglas Quayside.
- A sequential approach should be adopted. The preferred location for retail development is within the existing town centres. In a few instances where new retail provision cannot feasibly be accommodated within the town centre (as defined) then alternative edge-of-centre locations should be identified (preferably be no more than 300m from the edge of the town's defined central area.
- Where practicable, and justified in retailing terms, all new large or medium convenience store developments should be located within or on the edge of a town centre. The level of accessibility by all modes of transport (public and private) is an important consideration in choosing the location. The availability of convenient and easily accessible car parking will be essential.
- Future policy and improvement action should target the enhanced physical functioning and operation of the main retail and shopping streets so as to encourage additional retail investment and development (while retaining the independent character of central Douglas).
- Every available opportunity should be taken to open up existing and proposed linkages between the central core shopping area and Waterfront (Promenades and the Douglas Quayside).
- There may be a number of site opportunities in the central area that could be released for re-development. However, their development will only be successful through a proactive approach to realising opportunities in the central area. This will require not only reinvestment, redevelopment but also in some cases a significant change of use.
- While a combination of negotiation and compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers are need to encourage site assembly there are clear opportunities in and around Market Street.
Extracts from Draft Area Plan Household size and populations projections paper DP EP 5 (Updated June 2019) published ahead of the Public Inquiry
'Table 1' (as set out in DP EP 5) Population projections based on the 2016 Census used to support the Report 'Meeting our Population Challenges 2018'
Total Population Projections
Variant 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 20
