DEC Officer Report

Application No.: 23/00746/C Applicant: Miss Yvonne Grogan Proposal: Additional use of dwelling for tourist accommodation Site Address: 34 Harcroft Meadow Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 1JT Planning Officer: Miss Lucy Kinrade Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 07.08.2023

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. This application is considered to have acceptable amenity and parking impact and to comply with General Policy 2 (b, c, g, h and i) and Business Policy 13 of the Strategic Plan 2016.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This application relates to Site Plan, Location Plan, Ground Floor Plan, First Floor Plan and Photograph all date received 29/06/2023. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

None _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE SITE - 1.1 The site is 34 Harcroft Meadow, Douglas.

2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 The proposal is for the additional use of the dwelling as a tourist accommodation (use class 3.6).

3.0 Planning History - 3.1 There are no previous applications for the site considered materially relevant to this application.

4.0 Planning Policy - 4.1 The site is designated as residential on the Area Plan for the East 2020. - 4.2 The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains the following policies that are considered materially relevant in the assessment:

• o Strategic Policy 5
• o General Policy 2 (b), (g), (h), (i), (m), (n)
• o Transport Policy 7
• o Appendix 7
• o Business Policy 13
• o Community Policy 7, 10 and 11

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the Government's website. This report contains summaries only. - 5.1 Douglas Borough Council - no objections (14/07/2023). - 5.2 Department of Infrastructure Highway Services - Do not oppose (07/07/2023) - no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and /or parking. The Applicant is advised to consider installing cycle parking at one space per bedroom in an enclosed and secure storage facility to aid Active Travel and an electric vehicle charging point to aid net zero objectives. - 5.3 No comments received from neighbouring properties.

6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 Business Policy 13 supports the principle of the use of existing residential properties for tourist purposes so long as it does not impact the amenity of the neighbours. Therefore the key considerations in the determination of the application are the impact on the amenities of the neighbours and on parking provision. Neighbouring Amenities - 6.2 It is difficult to assess how an individual would behave, whether as a tourist or a resident. As a tourist, a person may be out a lot of the time, but may also have greater late nights and be disruptive on return. In the meantime, both tourists and permanent residents have incentives for organising gatherings, which can easily be carried out till late at night. In general terms, however, the majority of people tend to behave well and raise no concerns. Therefore, it is unlikely for this change of use to have a significant impact on the living conditions of the neighbouring properties also minded that short term rental for residential purpose would not require planning. Parking Provision - 6.3 There are no changes proposed to the existing parking, and it is not expected that there will be any changes in demand between permanent residential or tourist use to warrant an concern or to create and new or adverse highway safety issues beyond the existing use and arrangement.

7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 The proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2 (b, c, g, h, i) and Business Policy 13 of the Strategic Plan.

8.0 INTEREST 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 which 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: 14.08.2023 Determining officer Signed : J SINGLETON Jason Singleton Principal Planner

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