Planning Justification Statement

2000906

Our application is to remove condition 4, originally on planning notice 14/01257/B and reiterated on planning notice 19/01449/C which restricts the numbers of days the site can be used and the number of activities which can take place at any given time.

Currently it states that the site may only open "for more than 8 days per month with a maximum duration of 5 consecutive days in a month for one event, unless the activities are associated with each other." Having recently been granted additional uses on the various buildings onsite and extended opening hours, this restriction no longer seems to appear necessary or reasonable in the context application 19/01449/C was granted, as it now only serves to restrict community use, which was the main motivation for amending the planning notice.

Film production would always be the primary preference for utilising the site, however there has been an undisputable downturn in the frequency of these over the last few years. Indeed, the last film which utilised the site was in 2016 and from 2006 to date, there has only been a total of 5 films in these 14 years. Although there have been a few enquiries over the last few years, these have not progressed past an initial tour. As you would imagine, the revenue generated by film production on site is significant and so therefore any opportunity to facilitate film production on site would always be our top priority and would always take precedence over other enquiries.

We must, however, consider how to be able to make the site viable and be able to generate income to maintain it. This is why we have opened up bookings to be available for the whole community. Most of our bookings for community use are for between $1 \& 2$ hours e.g. Ramsey Netball Club, Ramsey Dog Club, Manx Model Flyers Club and so it is not inconceivable that they may wish to use the building on the same night. This would mean that we could potentially reach the monthly limit in the space of a few days meaning that the building and site would remain empty and unused for the remainder of the month. The revenue generated from these types of community and private hire bookings is low in comparison and so in order to make it viable, we need to encourage a higher volume of this type of booking.

Further to this, we would also like, as part of the removal of this restriction, to include the lifting of only one activity to take place at any one time. With the site being 25 acres and having several different venue spaces, the capacity of the car parking and the available infrastructure, we struggle to understand why this restriction would still be required. When the capacity of the Studio can be up to 1,300 people for any single event, we struggle to understand why, for example, 180 people in our Babbage's venue and 50 people in the Studio as 2 separate groups would create concern. It is fairly inconceivable to think that if there was a large scale event using the capacity of the Studio that there would indeed be alternative events taking place on the site as the infrastructure would be required to facilitate that event however by using this blanket restriction, it is hindering the collaboration of community groups and activities on the site at the same time.

Our overarching intention is to see the venues utilised and benefit the local community as a venue resource in the North of the Island. With being set back from main highways and having limited residential properties at our 25 -acre boundaries, it is the ideal space for community groups, private hires and church groups to meet in attractive and safe surroundings whilst causing no impact on town centre parking or resources.