DEC Officer Report

Application No.: 20/01543/B Applicant: Laxey & Lonan Sports & Community Facility Ltd Proposal: Erection of an equipment store to replace existing sheds Site Address: Laxey & Lonan Sports And Community Facility Glen Road Laxey Isle Of Man IM4 7AQ Planning Officer: Mrs Vanessa Porter Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 24.02.2021 _________________________________________________________________

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. The proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2 and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and therefore acceptable.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 21st December 2020:

• o Site/Location Plan
• o Proposed Equipment Store Drawing _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

None _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report THE APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is within the curtilage of Laxey and Lonan Sports and Community Facility which is located on the northern side of Glen Road in Laxey.

• THE PROPOSAL
• 2.1 The current planning application seeks approval to replace the existing three sheds with one store unit fashioned from profiled metal cladding in a green colour measuring 2m by 9.5m with an overall height of 2.9m. There is proposed to be a gap between the cliff face and the equipment store which will be roofed. PLANNING HISTORY
• 3.1 Whilst the application site has been the subject of previous planning applications it is considered that none of these are specifically material to the assessment of this current planning application. PLANNING POLICY
• 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as Mixed Use on the Area Plan for the East, Map 7, Laxey.

4.2 Of specific relevance to the assessment of this application is General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 which states "Development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and proposals in the appropriate Area Plan and with other policies of this Strategic Plan will normally be permitted, provided that the development:

• (a) is in accordance with the design brief in the Area Plan where there is such a brief;
• (b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them;
• (c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape; (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality; (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways;

4.3 The application site is also within a Conservation Area and as such Environment Policy 35 is a crucial policy: "Within Conservation Areas, the Department will permit only development which would preserve or enhance the character of appearance of the area, and will ensure that the special features contributing to the character and quality are protected against inappropriate development." This echoes the provision of Planning Policy Statement 1/01, policy CA/2, which states: "When considering proposals for the possible development of any land or buildings which fall within the conservation area, the impact of such proposals upon the special character of the area, will be a material consideration when assessing the application.

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 Highway Services have No Highways Interest in this application (27.1.21).

5.2 No comments have been received from Garff Commissioners at the time of writing this report. - 5.3 DOI Flood Risk Management have considered the proposal and Do not Oppose stating, "Please note that this is a flood zone and storage should be water compatible only." (19.02.21)

ASSESSMENT

6.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are; (i) the impact of the proposed development on the character of Glen Road and (ii) whether the windows preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Laxey Conservation Area.

6.2 When looking at the proposed equipment store it is considered to be a reasonable size for the proposed use and entirely reasonable for a community facility to require such a structure for the maintenance of the site and storage of community items. The scale, appearance and position of the proposed building does not unduly affect public amenity, private amenity, the character of the Conservation Area, highway safety or any other obvious material planning consideration.

6.3 There will be no loss of recreation land or facilities as the building will not only be built on land which is not part of the playing field (it is part of an unusable part of the car park) but also that the site currently has on it three sheds in different states of repair which will be removed as part of the scheme.

CONCLUSION

7.1 For the above reasons the proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2 and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and therefore acceptable. 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: 25.02.2021 Determining officer

Signed : A MORGAN Abigail Morgan Principal Planner

Customer note

This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the file copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online services/customers and archive records.