DEC Officer Report

Application No.: 23/00549/C Applicant: Event Lighting Services Ltd Proposal: Change of use from Class 2.2 Light Industrial to Class 2.4 Storage or Distribution with office accommodation (retrospective) Site Address: Unit 7 & 8 Cronkbourne Business Park Ballafletcher Farm Road Braddan Douglas Isle Of Man IM4 4QE Planning Officer: Mrs Vanessa Porter Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 25.09.2023

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

• C 1. The area of the building to be used as an office shall be limited to that shown on the floor plans forming part of the application and the use hereby permitted shall not extend into any other part of the premises, with such use only approved for Event Lighting Services Ltd.

Reason: Although the specific details of this application have been found acceptable, any change to its operation will require a fresh assessment.

• C 2. The building(s) hereby approved may be used for storage and distribution. Approval does not extend to the use of the site for retail purposes or as a skip transfer station or for the storage or distribution of dangerous goods (as defined in the Road Traffic Act: Road Vehicles carrying Dangerous Goods (Maintenance and Use) Regulations 2000) or coal or items which could give rise to nuisance to adjacent land users by virtue of dust, noise or smell.

Reason: Although the specific details of this application have been found acceptable, any change to its operation will require fresh assessment.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason.

Overall the proposed use of the site as storage and distribution would not harm the use of the existing site or the surrounding units, would not impact the highway network and would comply with the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, and is recommended for approval.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 28th April 2023;

• o Location Plan
• o Site Plan
• o Floor Plans 1 to 4
• o Planning Statement _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

None _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report THE APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is Units 7 & 8 Cronkbourne Business Park, Ballafletcher Farm, Braddan which are two unit situated to the North of the existing block of units within the Cronkbourne Business Park. The industrial units are accessed of the main Ballafletcher Road and situated to the North East of Ballafletcher Farm Road. - 1.2 Each unit has a total of 4 parking spaces available to the outside of each unit. - 1.3 Each unit has approval for the use as "general industrial." THE PROPOSAL

2.1 The current planning application seeks retrospective approval for the change of use from "general industrial" to "storage and distribution" and an office. - 2.2 Within the attached planning statement the following is relevant to the proposal;

• o "We currently employ 4 people on a full time basis as production crew and 1 person in a full time office role.
• o The business operates all year round (365 days a year) as events take place every day
• of the week including weekends.
• o Our main operating hours are 10am till 5pm weekdays and various hours some weekends but not all.
• o We often work unsociable hours off site on bigger events due to their very nature.
• o We store all of our lighting, sound and AV equipment in Unit 7 along with some additional stage decks stored outside simply for ease of loading and given they are weatherproof.
• o We have a small office space in unit 7 that seats 3 people along with a toilet and crew rest room. A small mezzanine area holds a small proportion of our rental equipment as well as the office.
• o We store all of our Broadcast equipment in unit 8 along with blackout drapes and other equipment associated with filming and camera production.
• o We also have a small removable mezzanine in Unit 8 that we use for the storage of event furniture such as tables and chairs and barrel seats etc along with props.
• o We also have an area where we create video content and photography by means of a large backdrop when we need to create footage for clients. This is only used on average once a month and is used as storage the rest of the time.

• o There is a single toilet in unit 8 along with a sink. PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 There have been several applications upon the site of which the following applications and in turn specific conditions are considered relevant to this application;

3.2 16/00032/B - Erection of two units for general industrial use with associated parking and hard-standing areas and access - PERMITTED Condition 2 stated, "The building hereby approved may be used only for general industrial purposes as defined in paragraph 9.2.3 of the Strategic Plan.

REASON: To ensure that the development accords with the car parking and access requirements of the Strategic Plan."

3.3 PA16/00415/B - Erection of two industrial buildings to provide eight units with associated parking, hard standing areas and access (amendment to PA 16/00032/B) - PERMITTED

• Condition 2 stated, "The building hereby approved may be used only for general industrial purposes as defined in paragraph 9.2.3 of the Strategic Plan.

REASON: To ensure that the development accords with the car parking and access requirements of the Strategic Plan."

3.4 PA18/00548/B - Erection of an industrial unit - PERMITTED

• Condition 3 stated "The building hereby approved may be used only for general industrial purposes as defined in paragraph 9.2.3 of the Strategic Plan.

Reason: To ensure that the development accords with the car parking requirements in accordance with General Policy 2 and Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016."

PLANNING POLICY

4.1 The site lies within a site designated as "Industrial" and referenced as BE016g on the Area Plan for the East, Map 8 - Union Mills/Strang. The site is not within a Conservation Area and whilst most of the site is outside of a Flood Risk Area, it's relevant to note that the upper East of the site is within a High Likelihood Surface Water area.

- 4.2 AREA PLAN FOR THE EAST

• 4.2.1 The following policies are applicable from the Area Plan for the East;
• 4.2.2 Employment Proposal 1 - The development of existing industrial land, including the following sites, will be supported for the following uses only: manufacturing, warehousing and distribution; office accommodation (subject to compliance with Strategic Plan Business Policy 7); or retail outlets (subject to compliance with Strategic Plan Business Policy 5).

• Tromode & Ballaflecter BE016g is given as a site.

- 4.3 STREATGEIC PLAN

• 4.3.1 The following Strategic Policies from the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 are relevant;

• Strategic Policy 1 - development should be located to make best use of previously developed land, redundant and underused buildings and utilising existing infrastructure;
• Strategic Policy 2 - focus new development in existing settlements unless complies with GP3; Strategic Policy 5 - development should be well designed;

• Strategic Policy 9 - All new retail development must be located within the town and village centres
• Strategic Policy 10 - development should promote integrated journeys, minimise car use and facilitate other modes of travel; Spatial Policy 1: Douglas will remain the main employment area; General Policy 2 - detailed 'development control' considerations; Business Policy 1 - encourages growth of opportunities; Business Policy 5 - land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution; retailing will not be permitted except under certain circumstances. Business Policy 7 - new office floor space should be located within town and village centres on land which is zoned for the purpose on appropriate area plan; exceptionally, permission may be given for new office space, (a) on approved Business Parks for corporate headquarters which do not involve day to day callers.. Community Policy 7 - designed to prevent criminal and antisocial behaviour; Community Policies 10 and 11 - implement best practice so as to reduce outbreak and spread of fire; Transport Policy 1- best located close to existing transport links; Transport Policy 4 - safe and appropriate provision for journeys;

• Transport Policy 6 - needs of pedestrians;
• Transport Policy 7 - parking standards; Infrastructure Policy 5 - methods for water conservation;

- 4.4 DEFINITION OF GENERAL INDUSTRIAL

General industrial is defined within the Isle of Man Strategic Plan as, "industrial building other than a light industrial building or a special industrial building."

- 4.5 DEFINITION OF BUSINESS PARK

Business Park is defined within the Isle of Man Strategic Plan as, "A development encompassing land for light industrial purposes, warehousing, new technology companies involved in scientific, commercial, or industrial research or development and office accommodation as the corporate headquarters of companies having multiple and diverse interests (but excluding financial/professional services to visiting members of the public); building should be set in parkland which should dominate the landscape."

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 The following representations can be seen online in full;

5.2 Highway Services have considered the application and state, "After reviewing this Application, Highway Services HDC finds it to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and /or parking." (18.05.23)

5.3 Braddan Commissioners have considered the application and have no objections. (23.05.23) ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment of the planning application are;

• - principle
• - office space/ loss of industrial land
• - traffic/parking
• - flood risk

- 6.2 PRINCIPLE

• 6.2.1 When looking at whether the principle of the change of use is acceptable it is necessary to note that the Employment Land Review makes it clear that there is a longer term shortfall in the amount of land for employment purposes (industrial, offices, storage and distribution) within the Island, with the Isle of Man Strategic Plan mirroring this in there being a presumption against certain uses within land zoned as industrial.
• 6.2.2 Around the Island industrial units have had changes of use approved, mostly sites situated within already existing industrial sites, with a wide range of different uses. It is important to note that whilst these change of uses have been approved, the predominant use and character of the industrial estate is still industrial.
• 6.2.3 The proposal within this application can be seen as two separate entities, firstly the storage and distribution side and then secondly the office side of the proposal.
• 6.2.4 The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 specifically states, "9.2.4 Sites identified as suitable for Industry will generally also be suitable for the storage and distribution of goods, although, depending upon location with respect to other uses, the Department may restrict the goods stored by attaching the following condition:

"The building(s) hereby approved may be used for storage and distribution. Approval does not extend to the use of the site for retail purposes or as a skip transfer station or for the storage or distribution of dangerous goods (as defined in the Road Traffic Act: Road Vehicles carrying Dangerous Goods (Maintenance and Use) Regulations 2000) or coal or items which could give rise to nuisance to adjacent land users by virtue of dust, noise or smell".

• 6.2.5 With the above in mind, when looking at whether storage and distribution would be acceptable from the site, the crux of the policies is depending on the items which are stored and distributed from the site.
• 6.2.6 When looking at the items in which the applicant stores and distributes, it can be seen that they range from items which could easily be stored in most places, such as chairs, to large stage items which would need a large storage area.

- 6.3 OFFICE SPACE/ LOSS OF INDUSTRIAL LAND

• 6.3.1 This brings the application to the next part of the change of use, the ancillary office space and whether the ancillary office space could be considered a loss of industrial land. The ancillary office space within the site, is relatively modest amount of floorspace. It is also not uncommon for industrial units to have a small office within their units which is ancillary to the business, such as an office for the administrative side of a car garage.

6.4 PARKING AND/OR TRAFFIC IMPLICATIONS

• 6.4.1 Turning towards the parking on site, the information supplied as part of the application states that the site owns one 18 ton box truck and one panel van, both of which are used to transport their equipment to and from the site.

• 6.4.2 Having looked at the information provided, it can be seen that there are six spaces demarked out to the units, which is the required number of spaces for both units within Appendix 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan for 1 space for every 50 square metres net floor space. The change of use to storage and distribution will alter the car parking requirement to 1 space for every 100 square metres net floor space.

• 6.4.3 With the addition of 1 car parking space for every 50 square metres for the ancillary office, this means that the site needs to have 4 spaces to comply with Transport Policy 7 in accordance with Appendix 7.
• 6.4.4 When noting the site and where the box truck and the panel van are parked during working hours, it is unlikely that this would impede on the spaces available. This is especially noted that whilst the box truck might block off the two spaces to the West of the site, these could still be used as all day parking for staff during the working day.
• 6.4.5 As such from this point, the application is deemed acceptable.

- 6.5 FLOODING

• 6.5.1 It can be seen from the DOI Flood Risk Maps that part of the site is within a Flood Risk zone. DOI Flood Risk Management Team have not commented on the application at the time of writing but as the proposal is not adding or increasing the built development but only changing a use of the space, the absence of comments is understandable.

• 6.5.2 On balance given the nature of the proposed and existing use of various parts of the estate, the proposed change of use would not exacerbate the risk of surface water flooding to the unit or adjacent units. For these reasons it is not considered necessary to request a flood risk assessment for this development as identified in EP10 and 13. CONCLUSION
• 7.1 Overall the proposed use of the site as storage and distribution would not harm the use of the existing site or the surrounding units, would not impact the highway network and would comply with the aforementioned planning policies of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, and is recommended for approval. 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 in this case Douglas Borough Council have not made material comments and should not be afforded Interest Person Status. 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: 02.10.2023 Determining officer Signed : J SINGLETON Jason Singleton Principal Planner

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