DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No.: 24/00402/C Applicant: Mrs Danielle Crosbie Proposal: Additional use of residential dwelling as tourist accommodation Site Address: 7 Bridge Street Peel Isle Of Man IM5 1NB Planning Officer: Vanessa Porter Site Visit: 08.05.2024 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 24.07.2024

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.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. Given its location and current use it is considered that the use of the existing residential dwelling as tourist accommodation would have a similar impact, whether it is used for tourist or permanent residential use and therefore would not have a significant impact upon the living conditions of the neighbouring properties.

As such it is deemed that the proposal complies with Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act (1999) and Environment Policy 35, General Policy 2, Strategic Policy 8, Environment Policy 22, Business Policies 11 and 13 and Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 17th April 2024;

• o Letter from agent confirming use of site
• o Planning Statement
• o Drawing No. A/PL_01
• o Drawing No. A/PL_02
• o Drawing No. A/PL_03

This decision also relates to Drawing No. A/PL_04 dated received 15th July 2024 which shows the third floor layout and confirmation email which states the third floor will not be used as part of the tourist accommodation.

_______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following properties 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 4(2):

No. 6 Bridge Street, Peel, as they do not satisfy all of the requirements of paragraph 2 of the Department's Operational Policy on Interested Person Status. _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is within the curtilage of 7 Bridge Street, Peel which is a mid-terrace two storey property, with an accessible loft space via a staircase. The property is situated to the Western side of Bridge Street. - 1.2 The property has no off street parking. PROPOSAL

2.1 The current planning application seeks approval for the additional use of the property as tourist accommodation. - 2.2 There are no physical works proposed. PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 The previous planning applications are not considered material to the assessment of this application. PLANNING POLICY - 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Mixed Use" on the Peel Local Plan 1989 and is situated within a Conservation Area. The property is not situated within a Flood Risk Zone.

4.2 Given the nature of the of the land designation and the property being within a Conservation Area, Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act (1999) is the most relevant in the assessment of this application. Followed by paragraph 7.29.2 and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan, which set out development in Conservation Areas will only be permitted where they preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the area. - 4.3 With regards to the proposed tourist use of the property, the following Strategic Policies are relevant, General Policy 2, Strategic Policy 8, Environment Policy 22, Business Policies 11 and 13 and Transport Policy 7 from the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 which set out the general standards towards acceptable development, the acceptability of tourist development provided it does not adversely affect the surrounding area, that neighbouring amenity is not compromised and that there is the recommended amount of parking space available.

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 The following representations can be found in full online;

5.2 Highway Services have considered the proposal and state, "After reviewing this Application, Highway Services HDC finds it to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and/or parking, as the site is in a sustainable location in Peel centre and would have a similar or less traffic generation that the existing use." (26.04.24) - 5.3 No comments have been received from Peel Town Commissioners at the time of writing this report. - 5.4 The owner/occupier of No. 6 Bridge Street, has written in to object to the proposal on the basis that there is enough tourist within the existing street and no more is required. (02.05.24 & 22.07.24) ASSESSMENT

6.1 The main issues to consider in the assessment of this application are;

• - Section 18(4) test
• - neighbouring amenity
• - highway services
• - representation 6.3 SECTION 18(4) TEST

• 6.3.1 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.
• 6.3.2 When looking at the appearance of the Conservation Area and whether the proposal would impact this, it is noted that 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 this part of the Section 18(4) test by preserving the Conservation Area.
• 6.3.3 Turning towards the character of the Conservation Area and whether the works would impact this, tourist accommodation is used in almost the same manner as residential use, with the likelihood that there would not be a change on the overall character of Bridge Street. As such the proposal would should not impact the character of the Conservation Area and the proposal will pass this part of the Section 18(4) test by preserving the Conservation Area.
• 6.4 NEIGHBOURING AMENITY

• 6.4.1 It is difficult to assess how an individual person would behave whether they be a tourist or permanent resident. As a tourist, a person may be out a lot of the time, but may also have greater late nights and be disruptive on return. On the other hand, permanent residents may be at home more of the time, but be more likely to invite friends or family over for dinner or parties that may be noisy. In general terms, however, the majority of people tend to behave well and raise no concerns, although there will always be a percentage that might not, whether they are a permanent resident or otherwise.
• 6.4.2 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.

• 6.4.3 The existing property would be used as a residential property, of which the additional use of this application will enable the owners to part-rent the property for tourist accommodation. The dwelling itself is situated within a residential use and located close to the main village, near the harbour as such the site would be subject to a certain level of noise disturbance by dint of its location.
• 6.4.4 It is considered therefore deemed that the use of the existing residential dwelling as tourist accommodation would have a similar impact, whether it is used for tourist or permanent residential use and therefore would not have a significant impact upon the living conditions of the neighbouring properties.
• 6.5 HIGHWAY SERVICES

6.5.1 The property does not supply on-site parking and as such the parking provided for the property would be on-street parking, which would be used irrespectively if the property was used as a permanent residential accommodation or tourist purposes.

• 6.5.6 The additional use as tourist use would not result in any changes beyond current occupation in terms of an increase in water usage, criminal activity nor increase the likely hood of spread of fire beyond the existing arrangement, and so the proposal is considered acceptable in these respects.

6.6 REPRESENTATION

• 6.6.1 The representation from the neighbouring property is noted, and it can be seen that there are four other properties within Bridge Street which have additional use as tourist accommodation. Whilst this is the case, the proposal is for additional use and this change of use would not hinder the property from being rented out or by being used as a family home. CONCLUSION
• 7.1 For these reasons the proposal is considered to comply with the relevant polices of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and there is no demonstrable harm arising from the application. The living conditions of the neighbouring properties are not to be made worse as a result of the proposal and there is to be no impact on the designated Conservation Area, As such the application is recommended for approval. 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 a Principal Planner 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.

Decision Made : Permitted Date: 24.07.2024 Determining officer

Signed : C BALMER Chris Balmer Principal Planner

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