DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No.: 20/00463/B Applicant: Mr Peter Bergquist Proposal: Erection of a two storey annex to provide ancillary living accommodation Site Address: 57 Governors Road Onchan Isle Of Man IM3 1AZ Senior Planning Officer: Mr Jason Singleton Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 28.07.2020 _________________________________________________________________

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. Prior to the occupation and use of the proposed Annex, the boundary wall to the front of the property shall be rebuilt and finished to match that of No.57 Governors Road, Onchan REASON; In the interest of the character of the area.
• C 3. The proposed ancillary living accommodation shall be used only in association with No.57 Governors Road, Onchan and for purposes solely ancillary to the use of 57 Governors Road as a single dwellinghouse; and shall not be occupied or sold off as an independent dwelling unit.

Reason: To ensure proper control of the development and to avoid any future undesirable fragmentation of the curtilage.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason.

This planning application is recommended for approval as it is concluded that the scope of works would not harm the use and enjoyment of neighbouring properties or the highway network and has been designed to comply with the planning policies of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, the Residential Design Guide 2019.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This approval relates to drawings referenced; 100; 101; all date stamped received on 5 May 2020 and the amended plan referenced; 102-A received on 10 July 2020. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons

It is recommended that the following organisation 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):

The Friends of Onchan's Heritage, as they do not own or occupy property that is within 20m of the application site, in accordance with paragraph 2B 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 Department's Operational Policy on Interested Person Status (January 2020). _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE SITE - 1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of 57 Governors Road, Onchan. The property is a two storey building at the end of a terrace of 5 properties which have pedestrian access only onto the footpath. There are no off road or on road parking spaces for this terrace of dwellings. The application site is situated to the west of Corkill's garage filing station, fronting onto Governors Road.

2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Proposed is the Erection of a two storey annex to provide ancillary living accommodation. The applicant states; "creation of a self-contained Annex to support the independent living of a family member". - 2.2 The proposal would see the adjacent garden area (currently unauthorised hard standing) to the east elevation accommodate a two storey building with its own doorway access. The front elevation is designed to match the window and door heights, roof pitch and block ended with a chimney stack. To the rear is a single storey flat roof extension to provide a kitchen and rear door to the patio area / garden.

3.0 PLANNING POLICY - 3.1 In terms of land use designation the application site is located within a wider area of land that is designated as predominantly residential use under the Onchan Local Plan 2000 and as such, the following policy in the Written Statement is considered relevant:

O/RES/P/21 4.66 EXTENSIONS AND ALTERATIONS TO EXISTING RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY WILL GENERALLY NOT BE OPPOSED WHERE SUCH PROPOSALS ARE APPROPRIATE IN TERMS OF SCALE, MASSING, DESIGN, APPEARANCE AND IMPACT ON ADJACENT PROPERTY.

3.2 In terms of strategic plan policy, the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains one policy that is considered specifically material to the assessment of this current planning application. General Policy 2 states (in part):

"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:

• (b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them;
• (c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape; (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;

3.3 Paragraph 8.12.1 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan states: 'As a general policy, in built up areas not controlled by Conservation Area or Registered Building policies, there will be a general presumption in favour of extensions to existing property where such extensions would not have an adverse impact on either adjacent property or the surrounding area in general. - 3.4 Other Material Considerations The Department has recently published the Residential Design Guidance (March 2019) which provides advice on the design of new houses and extensions to existing property as well as how to assess the impact of such development on the living conditions of those in adjacent residential property. This includes specific guidance at section 4.1 on Front Extensions.

• 4.1.1 An extension to the front of a property can have the greatest impact upon the individual dwelling and/or the street scene. There may be limited circumstances when a front extension is appropriate, for example where the street has an irregular building line or pattern. Any extension should normally appear as if it were designed with the original building and not look out of place in the street. A porch extension is perhaps the most common form of extension to the front elevation of a dwelling. Whilst porches are relatively small in size, careful consideration still needs to be given.

4.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 4.1 19/00048/B - Creation of vehicular access to provide off street parking to side of property (retrospective). Refused.

18/00555/B - Alterations and erection of extension (retrospective). Approved. 17/00297/B - Erection of two storey extension to rear of property. Refused.

- 5.0 REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 Onchan District Commissioners initially commented on (02/06/20) recommending refusal but on the amended plans further commented on (15/07/20) recommend approval subject to a planning condition "that the new property is only used in conjunction with the use of 57 Governors Road".

5.2 Highways Services have commented (27/05/20) & (18/06/20) and do not object. - 5.3 Friends of Onchan's Heritage initially commented on 03/06/20) on the appearance of the front elevation and that of the roof line. On the amended plans provided further comments (15/06/20) welcoming the changes; comments on the response from Onchan Commissioners and recommends the front boundary wall should be reinstated and the existing gate way used to serve both properties to reinforce the ancillary relationship.

- 6.0 ASSESSMENT

6.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are; (i) visual impact of the proposed development; (GP2(b) & (c)

• (ii) the impact upon the amenities (overlooking, loss of light; over bearing impact, privacy and visual amenity) of the neighbouring properties. (GP2(g))

6.2 Visual impact

• From the streetscene at the front the amended design is show to replicate the fenestration and levels of the adjacent building No.57, this would ensure the window heights, eaves and roof level remain the same, as to are the window placement and opening sizes. The design, size, position and scale of the proposed extension would be considered complimentary to the property and when finished to match No.57 would ensure the character of the terrace is retained in a sympathetic manner in accordance with GP2(b) & (c).
• 6.3 Neighbouring amenities The closed adjoining residential neighbour is also the applicant of No.57 and given the statement regarding the use for family members for independent living, it is not considered there would be any incompatible use or confliction of uses here. In this instance given the size and close proximity it would be appropriate to add a suitably worded condition to ensure the use is kept in accordance with the proposal and is not used as a separate unit of accommodation. Turning to the comments from the Friends of Onchan and the boundary treatment, the drawings (ref;102-A dated 10/06/20) show a separate pedestrian gateway access to the property. In this instance it would be appropriate to ensure the boundary wall is rebuilt to ensure the character of the streetscene is retained.

- 7.0 CONCLUSION

7.1 From the above assessment, the application is recommended for approval as it is concluded that the scope of works would not harm the use and enjoyment of neighbouring properties or the highway network and has been designed to comply with aforementioned planning policies of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, the Residential Design Guide 2019. - 8.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS

8.1 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. 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 above who should be given Interested Person Status

_____________________________________________________________________ I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 30.07.2020 Determining officer

Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management

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