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Department of Planning Department of Infrastructure Murray House Mount Havelock Douglas Isle of Man IM1 2SF
25th March 2014.
Dear Sirs,
Re: Proposed demolition of an existing house and erection of a replacement dwelling with separate garage and creation of improved vehicular access at Ballaveare, Old Castletown Road, Port Soderick, Isle of Man, IM4 1BB.
Please find attached a detailed planning application for a replacement dwelling. We would offer the following information in support of this application;
Ballaveare is a detached dwelling located on a 6 acre site on the south side of the A25, Old Castletown Road in Port Soderick close to the junction with the B23. The site is an average of 70m wide and 335m long, and falls 40m down from the Old Castletown Road to the eastern end of the site. This provides long views to the sea from the top of the site where the existing buildings stand.
The existing dwelling is an unattractive two storey house with painted rendered walls and a slated roof. It has suffered from numerous unsympathetic and unsightly additions during the past 40 years. Within the grounds lies a large two storey barn structure which once had planning consent to be replaced by a new house under PA02/01686/B. This consent was not implemented.
The residential curtilage of the existing building, including a small area of ornamental orchard, extends approximately 120m south-eastwards from the Old Castletown Road boundary. This area of the site falls more gently than the remainder which is effectively open countryside. The upper area of the site is well screened by existing trees and hedging as is the north-west edge and eastern end where the B23 is set down into a deep cutting to pass under the Isle of Man Steam Railway.
The upper part of the site is bounded to the north east by Longfield, a large dormer bungalow in extensive grounds. On the south-west side is a smaller bungalow, Shenvalley, which stands on a plot which was once part of the grounds of Ballaveare Farm. There are several houses of varying sizes on
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Hartford Homes Ltd · Middle River · Douglas · Isle of Man · British Isles · IM2 1AL Directors A.S. Greenhalgh, J.S. Greenhalgh, N.A. Greenhalgh · Inc. in the Isle of Man No. 061 408C · VAT No. GB 001 0743 45
the north-west side of Old Castletown Road, some old and some new. Several more houses have been built in recent years in this area.
There are two vehicular accesses on to the site from Old Castletown Road. The primary one is in the centre of the site frontage through an opening in the existing stone wall, backed by hedging and mature trees. A secondary access on the west side of the site provides access to some out buildings and the open fields in the eastern part of the site.
The proposed development involves the demolition of the existing dwelling and replacing this with a new dwelling and stand alone garage, together with the repositioning of the principle site access to improve safety, and associated landscaping. The existing barn building will be retained and refurbished for use.
In 2011, planning application 11/02551/B was submitted for a replacement building on the same site. The floor area of the proposed dwelling was 2302sqm, which equated to an increase in size of 272%, compared to 619sqm of the existing dwelling.
The application was refused and subsequently turned down at appeal. In summary, the appeal inspector made the following observations about the then proposed design;
These points have all been addressed in the current proposal as presented.
Both the proposed house and the garage building will be in traditional rendered masonry construction with pitched artificial slate roofs and incorporating traditional detailing.
The house will be on two floors with a single storey element to the southern end of the house containing the Sunroom and Utility. The ground floor spaces to the east and south elevations will open out on to patio areas which have been positioned to take advantage of the buildings orientation.
There will be a separate, three car garage block positioned between the house and the road.
The proposed house has a total external gross floor area of 1005sqm. This is an increase of 62% over the area of the existing house which currently measures 619sqm. And whilst this is greater than the 50% permitted by Housing Policy 14, we believe the use of traditional design and the improvements in amenity and visual appearance should mean that these proposals are acceptable and in line with similar precedents.
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Planning Circular 3/91 – Guide to the design of residential Development in the country side provides the following helpful design advice;
The large house standing in its own grounds.
‘In addition to the simple country dwelling on farms and settlements...there are also occasional grander houses which were built for the more affluent.
Many characteristics of these larger houses are similar to those already described; having white rendered simple forms topped by gable ended slate roofs, end chimneys and symmetrical main facades. Plans later became double room depth and more square in proportion.
The larger house did however introduce additional features. These were related to the use of more fashionable and sophisticated architectural motives and decoration. Classical elements such as roof parapets, cornices, string courses and later more romantic features such as mediaeval battlements. Window drip mouldings are found in some country houses as well as their town counterparts. The execution of these details is invariably in cement render, the common external material of the period.
Other more functional elements such as bay windows became common to take advantage of views – a factor not considered important by the traditional agricultural worker- as did more elaborate entrance gates and boundaries.
POLICY 8
The more fashionable features of the 19th Century found in the isolated larger house, form a visual image which is established and familiar in the Manx countryside. These features, given sensitive and restrained application, could, with advantage, be used in certain circumstances today. They should, however, be limited to the larger house standing in its own ground’
The proposed development is for a larger house standing in its own ground and complies with many of the descriptive points outlined in Planning Circular3/91. Key design features include;
The overall composition and restrained detailing of the dwelling will give the appearance of a traditional larger property and will not look out of place in the Manx Countryside. It is not pretending to be a farm building but is intended to be a ‘grander’ property, which is commonly accepted by Planning Circular3/91.
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Given the secluded site and the design of the property, we believe this will be a more attractive dwelling than many existing houses in the countryside which are accepted as being of traditional design.
The existing principle access onto the site is centrally located on the A25 frontage with a secondary service access to the right hand side, when viewed from the road. However, the 1.4m high stone walls either side of the entrance, obstruct vision for anyone leaving the site and necessitates the nose of vehicles to project into the carriage way before the driver can check for oncoming vehicles. This is a dangerous situation that needs to be addressed as part of the development of the site.
To achieve the required visibility splay in the same position would require the stone walls either side of the access, and the vegetation behind them, to be reduced down to 1m or below in height. However, an inspection of this boundary highlights that it is very densely planted and a reduction in height of the wall and planting would drastically change the character of this boundary, as well as potentially impact on some of the existing specimen trees. The existing entrance also directly faces the entrance to a property opposite, which could also affect the safe use of both accesses.
The proposed layout moves the access drive 20m to the right, when viewed from the highway, and will achieve the required visibility splay as set out in Manx Roads 2 and will be a big improvement on the current access. A site meeting was held in October 2013 with Mr Peter Keenan of DEFA, to review the new access proposal. Mr Keenan was happy with the proposal as it only impacts on trees which are either of poor health or poor quality. A large number of additional trees will be planted as part of the development to screen the proposed house from the highway. Please refer to Barry Chinn Landscape Architects report and drawings which provides additional information on landscaping matters.
The existing access main access will be closed off by infilling the opening in the stone wall.
The existing secondary access on the right hand side of the frontage will be retained for service vehicles.
The eastern boundary of the proposed residential curtilage will line through with the southern boundary of Longfiled as suggested by the planning officer, i.e. 100m from the frontage onto Old Castletown Road. The land east of this line, which slopes down the hill, will remain as open countryside. The extent of residential curtilage will ensure that it is of a sufficient size to support the redevelopment of this property and should have minimum visual impact on the countryside.
The extent of the residential curtilage has been outlined in red on the site plan whilst the remainder of the land has been edged in blue.
The existing foul drainage from the current dwelling is dealt with by a septic tank. It is proposed to replace this with a suitably sized Klargester Bio Disc package treatment plant or similar approved by the Department of Transport Drainage Division. This would discharge as treated clear water into an
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existing watercourse which runs within the site on its northern and eastern boundaries before running through Port Soderick Glen.
Surface water will be collected and discharged into an existing water course which runs within the site on its northern and eastern boundaries before running through Port Soderick Glen.
Please refer to Barry Chinn Landscape Architects report and drawings for details of the proposed landscaping works and details of the existing trees and protection to be provided to trees during construction. Generally, retained trees close to the area where the proposed buildings are to be built will be protected during construction with the area under the canopy of the tree being cordoned off to prevent site traffic access or material storage.
The hard landscaping of the site will generally be as indicated on the application drawings. The additional soft landscaping of the completed site will generally follow the proposals indicated on the drawings but will be finalised on site by landscaping specialists.
The relevant planning policies of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan (2007) applicable to this application are General Policy 3, Housing Policy 4, 12 and 14.
The proposed development complies with General Policy 3, Housing Policy 4 and12.
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Where a replacement dwelling is permitted, it must not be substantially different to the existing in terms of siting and size, unless changes of siting or size would result in an overall environmental improvement; the new building should therefore generally be sited on the “footprint” of the existing, and should have a floor area(1), which is not more than 50% greater than that of the original building (floor areas should be measured externally and should not include attic space or outbuildings). Generally, the design of the new building should be in accordance with Policies 2-7 of the present Planning Circular 3/91, (which will be revised and issued as a Planning Policy Statement). Exceptionally, permission may be granted for buildings of innovative, modern design where this is of high quality and would not result in adverse visual impact; designs should incorporate the re-use of such stone and slate as are still in place on the site, and in general, new fabric should be finished to match the materials of the original building.
Consideration may be given to proposals which result in a larger dwelling where this involves the replacement of an existing dwelling of poor form with one of more traditional character, or where, by its design or siting, there would be less visual impact.
In compliance with Housing Policy 14, the proposed house sits predominately on the footprint of the existing dwelling.
The floor area of the proposed house is 62% greater than the area of the existing house. However, Housing Policy 14 permits a ‘larger dwelling where this involves the replacement of an existing dwelling of poor form with one of more traditional character, or where, by its design or siting, there would be less visual impact.’
The existing house is of ‘poor form’ having been unsympathetically extended in the past. The proposed house will be of better quality having been purpose designed for the site and it will be of more traditional character adopting traditional detailing and traditional external finishes. Whilst the house will be larger than the existing, its design, its positioning on the site, the retention of the extensive collection of mature trees on the site and the retention of screening to the Old Castletown Road frontage will result in overall low visual impact.
Therefore, we believe the proposed dwelling complies with Housing Policy 14 and overall, the proposed development complies fully with all relevant planning policies.
The proposed development is of a high quality design based on traditional styles but with contemporary elements. The use of painted render and pitched ‘slate’ roofs are common materials used on the island as too are the forms used in the composition and detailing of the dwelling. The proposed dwelling replaces an existing house agreed as being of ‘poor form’. The site plan illustrates the proposed house will sit comfortably on the residential curtilage, that it relates well to its
neighbours and that the natural fall in the site levels from the Castletown Road acts to diminish the visual impact of the house when viewed from the highway.
The relocation of the principle site access not only achieves the safe visibility splays specified in Manx Roads 2, and therefore eliminates the existing dangerous access, but it also does this by maintain the majority of the screening benefits of the existing mature planning.
We believe the proposals comply fully with all relevant planning policies contained in IOMSP(2007) namely; General Policy 3, Housing Policy 4, 12 and 14.
We trust the above and enclosed information provides sufficient information for this application to be considered but should you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact our offices.
Yours faithfully
George Li
For and on behalf of Hartford Ltd.
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