APL Agents Planning Statement

Planning Statement In Support Of An Application For A Certificate Of Lawful Development In Respect Of Replacement Of A Ground Floor Extension Of Onxy House, Shore Road Underway, Port St. Mary Im9 5Dx

• 1.0 Introduction
• 1.1 Onyx House is a new dwelling, constructed in 2015 following approval granted under 11/01433/B on 30th April, 2023.
• 1.2 Subsequent to the completion of the dwelling in 2015 it was sold to a new owner who wished to undertake modifications including the creation of a sitting area at ground floor level for elderly parents so that they did not need to use the stairs as the living accommodation was provided on the first floor with the sleeping accommodation on the ground floor. The extension is referred to as a sitting room on the attached drawings but as a conservatory by the builder in his invoice. It will be referred to as a conservatory within this document.
• 1.3 The new owner was under the impression that the works would comply with the provisions of the the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2012 so would not require planning approval and proceeds with the works but when they were almost complete, in order to be sure, a letter was sent to the Department on 11th April, 2016 by Samson Designs Limited (see Appendix One) asking for confirmation that this was the case including photographs of the boundary of the site which demonstrated that there was sufficient space in which two vehicles may be parked. No response can be found to this enquiry.
• 1.4 The works were fully completed with the owner and builder assuming that permission was not required on the basis of the information supplied. The room is less than 15 sq m and it was not considered possible to park two vehicles within the space shown on the approved drawings, due to the narrowness of the space available and the presence of the pillars.

• 2.0 Evidence of the age of the structure
• 2.1 The letter from Samson Designs confirms that work had commenced on the conservatory and shows photographs of that. In addition, attached at Appendix Two is a final invoice dated 17th March, 2016 from John Morris (the previous owner and builder) to Frank Hawkins (the new owner of the property) for the conservatory.
• 2.2 Also provided are three aerial photographs of the site. The first is a current image taken in 2023 when the conservatory is clearly visible (the striped roof). This is also visible in the second image which is from 2019. The third image is from 2015 which shows no such roof.

2023 (left) 2019 (below)

Photograph of conservatory

• 2.3 The roof of the conservatory is white which enables it to show up on the aerial photographs above: this image from the side lane shows the colour of the roof and how visible it is.

• 3.0 Conclusion
• 3.1 We believe that the evidence provided - the letter from Samson Designs including photographs, the aerial photographs and the invoice from J. Morris, cumulatively demonstrate that the sitting room, as it exists today have been in situ for at least four years and as such a Certificate of Lawful Development should be issued in this case under Schedule 4(3a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999.
• 3.2 If this evidence is not considered sufficient, we would be grateful if we could be advised so that we will attempt to seek additional evidence as required by the Department.

Sarah Corlett 14.08.2023