Loading document...
Proposed new dwelling on Ballakillowey Road for Mr & Mrs Humphrey
Planning Statement
Introduction
This application, on behalf of Mr & Mrs Humphrey, is for the erection of a new three bedroomed, eco-friendly house, with an attached double garage with a single bedroomed studio annex above, located on land between the dwellings Longmead and Strathcona along the A36 Ballakillowey Road, Colby. The site, which has a southerly aspect, slopes from north to south with a relatively even fall of 2.4m over a distance of 40m. The site is bounded to the west by the A36 Ballakillowey Road, to the east by the dwelling of Horizons, on the Ballakillowey estate, to the south by Longmead and to the north by the dwelling of Strathcona and field 414326. The site has a current planning approval – 19/00320B.
Although the site came with approval for a relatively large, executive home with a total floor area of over 400m2, the applicants specified that they required a substantially smaller property, that would be more appropriate for a retired couple, but which would also allow for visiting family, without children, to be accommodated in the main house, and family members, with children, to be accommodated in a separate annex over the garage that would allow both those in the main house and those in the annex a level of privacy from each other. The applicants also don’t like the modern trend of building the largest house possible on a given plot. It was also important for the applicants, that the new house would be as ecofriendly as possible and built as close to Passivhaus standards as possible within the applicants’ overall budget for the build. Finally, the applicants specified that they wanted the new design to be located within the overall footprint of and with a lower overall mass than the existing approval, 19/00320B. This was to minimise the impact of the proposed new design on both neighbours’ privacy and outlook.
The site sits within an area designated for residential use in the Area Plan for the South 2013, and as such there is a general principle in favour of residential development on the site.
In addition, two previous planning applications for residential development on the site, 13/1004091B and 19/00320B, were approved – and, as already, mentioned, 19/00320B, remains a current approval at the date of this application.
Therefore, Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2007 General Policy 2 (CP2) applies, and we have set out below the key aspects of CP2 that we believe are relevant and described how we believe this application satisfies the policy, namely: respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them. In addition, a more recent application by the applicants, 20/01404B, was refused at appeal and this application seeks to address the view of the Planning Department and the Inspector in that refusal. In particular, although the overall design aesthetic in the area is an eclectic mix of styles, the immediate ‘street scene’ for the site, as highlighted in the refusal of 20/01404B, is considered to be of more traditional dwellings: Lynwood Dene; Fuschia Cottage; Crofton Cottage; and Strathcona. It is this view of a more immediate, traditional aesthetic that the new application seeks to reflect without compromising the needs of modern living and the desire for the property to be as eco-friendly as possible.
The main dwelling is a two storey three-bedroom house of a relatively traditional form and proportion. It incorporates traditional design cues in the use of gable-end chimneys, stone cladding to the southern elevation, which would be visible for a vehicle coming up the A36 road, and a traditional pitched roof clad with artificial slate tiles. The proposed design incorporates more glazing area than is traditional, to both maximise solar gain for passive heating and the amenity from the southerly aspect. However, the overall amount of glazing is lower than the current approval and the ratio of glazing to wall is within the normal bounds of good design and very similar
to the current approval. The visual impact of the glazing is reduced by vertical recesses. Glazing on the north face of the property is minimised to that required for light and ventilation purposes - having a through flow of air is a necessary feature for the passive design to control heat build-up in summer – but still preserving the reasonable privacy of Strathcona. The main house is oriented east to west along the contours of the land – and in keeping with the east to west orientation of Lynwood Dene, Fuschia Cottage, Crofton Cottage and Strathcona. To the north of the main house is a double garage with a guest annex over. This is designed to resemble a barn outbuilding using stone cladding to the lower portion of the building and vertical cladding to the upper portion. The annex receives natural illumination from both Velux-style roof lights and from a large westerly facing window that also affords family guests staying in the annex a view over the field to the rear of Crofton Cottage. Connecting the main house to the garage is a stone clad catslide link that incorporates the main entrance to the house plus a utility block and access to the rear garden. Overall, the intention of the approach is to lower the apparent mass of the property from the road and to present an interesting aspect that resembles a traditional house and outbuilding. The new building has a footprint of 155m2 versus the currently approved design of 214m2. Access to the site will utilise the existing entrance location and layout that was previously approved, as part of application 19/00320B, which meets the visibility splay requirements, etc, of Manx Highways. However, the design aesthetic of the currently approved design will be modified to move away from a large, modern electric style gate to a more traditional, farm gate form. Heating will be provided by an air-source heat pump with solar panels for both generating electricity and heating water.
The site is remote from public foul and surface water sewers. Therefore, foul drainage will be collected in 100mm diameter drains, and taken to a bio disk treatment plant at the southern end of the site, where it will be discharged to a soakaway trench 10m from the house, and more than 10m from any adjacent dwelling. Surface water will be collected from the roof in gutters and downpipes: and the other hard surfaces collected in gullies and taken in 100mm diameter drains to two soakaway trenches: located at the eastern and western boundaries of the site at least 5m away from roads and dwellings.
The dwelling is sited centrally on the site, within the footprint of the existing approved design, to minimise privacy and outlook impacts on neighbouring properties. The distances from each adjacent dwelling are as follows:
Given the distances to the adjacent properties, the location of primary habitable rooms and windows, the overall level of glazing compared to the current approval, and the siting of the proposed new dwelling within the footprint of the current approval, the applicants believe that there should not be any adverse privacy impact on neighbouring properties.
The landscape of the area is characterised by walls, Manx banks and hedgerows of varying quality along the roadside verge. The proposed design will maintain the existing Manx bank and create a traditional Manx hedgerow with trees along the Ballakillowey Road verge; using species such as Rowan, Whitebeam. Cockspur Thorn and Hawthorn. A similar approach will be used to create hedgerow along the newly fenced border with Longmead. The garden itself will be mainly laid to lawn to create a low maintenance design. Overall, the siting of the property and the proposed landscaping should ensure that the proposed new development blends
into the existing street scene and has no detrimental impact on the feel of the area or the amenity of local residents.
The dwelling whilst contemporary in design, uses traditional form and materials to create a pleasing aesthetic that is intended to blend into the locality, be in keeping with the Local Area Plan and satisfy the Local Area Plan, and the key subclauses of General Policy 2. Therefore, the applicants respectfully request the Planning Committee to grant approval to this application.
Copyright in submitted documents remains with their authors. Request removal
View as Markdown