Police Station Conversion Planning Statement

Armitage House, Lord Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 1LE. Tel: (01624) 672050. Fax: (01624) 629237, (01624) 615465. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.savagechadwick.com

Directors:

Our Ref: MS/jd/SC1279

M. Savage BA DIP Arch(Liverpool), RIBA, ACA, MaPS PE, Chadwick BA Hons Dip Arch(Oxford), RIBA, MaPS

19th April 2013 Department of Infrastructure Planning Division

Murray House

Mount Havelock

DOUGLAS

FAO: Secretary to the Planning Committee

Dear Sirs

Conversion of Former Police Station, Elm Drive, Onchan to Four Apartments and a Maisonette Further to discussions with Mr A Homes, we enclose four copies of the above application along with the appropriate fee. This application is made by Onchan District Commissioners who wish to create four living units for public housing rental. A Statement of Need from Onchan commissioners is attached. All units comply with minimum standards for Public Housing as set by the Department of Social Care. Should you have any queries in connection with the application, please do not hesitate to contact the writer at this office. Yours faithfully

For

Savage & Chadwick Architects

enc s

cc. Mr B Price, Onchan Commissioners

Supporting statement for redevelopment of Onchan Police Station into 5 Social Housing units.

Onchan has a social housing stock of 396 units available for general letting. It has a further 100 units of Sheltered Housing stock. Of the 396 properties, only 20 are 1 bedroom units and are a mix of bungalows and flats. Under current DSC housing policy, the bungalows are reserved for persons over 55 or with a medical need for single-level accommodation, and this reduces the number of 1 bedroom units available to general applicants to 10.

As part of the housing process, properties are allocated to applicants who demonstrate the most need: this means that single person applications will always wait longest to be housed, as families with children will normally take priority on any multi-bedroom property. Onchan currently has 35 single person applications on a waiting list of 105, but this 33% of our waiting list are only likely to be considered for 2.5% of our existing properties.

With the additional capacity the conversion of the old Police Station will give, 5 single applicants can be housed, which equates to 15% of those in need. The provision of a 2 bed unit allows a degree of flexibility in housing an applicant with custodial rights in respect of children, but who does not have them in regular residence. It may seem that the additional properties gained from this conversion will only help a small number of people, but those are the people most in need of assistance as they are the ones least likely to have their housing needs addressed in a timely fashion.

The stock of social housing units is unlikely to exceed demand in the Onchan area, given the popularity of the district for access to employment opportunities and schools. This means that there will always be a waiting list, and preference is naturally given to providing families with young children a suitable place to live. This preference has always been at the expense of the single applicant, and the redevelopment of Onchan’s old Police Station is a much-needed step in redressing the balance of access to suitable housing for all applicants, and is fully supported by Onchan District Commissioners.

T.R. Craig Housing Manager