Planning Statement McGarrigle Jackson

0902029

011

McGarrigle - Jackson

architects and urban designers

Proposed Apartments on Site at:

Land to Rear of 27 and 29 Westhill Avenue,

Castletown

for Castletown Town Commissioners

Job No. 41.793

PLANNING STATEMENT

10th DECEMBER 2009

The Castletown Town Commissioners have identified a need for accommodation for single persons or persons with a single child. At present the Commissioners have 50 applicants on their housing waiting list. By building a total of six flats the Commissioners will be providing much needed accommodation, the type of which is in short supply in their public housing stock.

The site is in two parts; to the side of no. 29 Westhill Avenue and on land to the rear, between nos. 27 and 29 Westhill Avenue. The project involves the demolition of 20no. existing garages and the erection of six new apartments, with car parking and landscaping. The proposed accommodation will provide six two-bedroom apartments. The materials, scale and massing of the new apartments will be designed to be sympathetic to the adjacent dwellings on Westhill Avenue. The elevational treatment could also been designed to reflect the key elements of the existing dwellings on the Westhill/Schoolhill Avenue estate. The new apartments and landscaping have been set out to maintain access to garages, workshops and rear gardens of adjacent properties.

Eighteen car parking spaces are provided within the landscaping proposals. The car ownership of prospective tenants is expected to be much lower than the two spaces per flat required by the Isle of Man Strategic Plan. The Commissioners would anticipate a car ownership ratio of no more than one car per flat. The allocation of parking spaces also allows for two parking spaces for the Nursery staff and any cars which may previously been parked in the garages demolished under this project.

The development is designed to be a private courtyard environment. This is reinforced by the choice of road and pavement surfaces to be paving slabs, small cobbles and pavers. The apartments are sited away from the canopies of the existing trees. The landscaping proposals include for tree and shrub planting, with grassed areas, and a small public open space with seating and localised planting. The Commissioners believe the overall effect of the design will be to create an attractive environment for residents in the six new apartments.