Planning Statement Tennis Road

1701156

PLANNING STATEMENT

LAND SITUATED AT 3-5 TENNIS ROAD, DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN

The Proposal

This statement aims to provide to the Committee a brief outline as to how this application has been structured following pre application advice from Planning Officer Ed Riley and having regard to the Character Appraisal document of the Selbourne Drive Conservation Area.

The original proposal was a combined application for consent for a pair of semi detached houses adjacent to the present building known as 5 Tennis Road and for the conversion of the existing rear coach house into a single dwelling.

The pre application advice suggested that the conversion of the coach house may presently encounter difficulty as it would be difficult to demonstrate that there would be sufficiently beneficial outlook for the new dwelling that would be created.

As part of the wider ongoing refurbishment and improvement of the adjacent apartments at 3-5 Tennis Road, the applicant will be able to significantly improve the amenity and outlook for the coach house in the future. In the shorter term however such amenity and outlook may not be available. Consequently it has been decided to withdraw this element from the application and deal with it separately at a future date.

This leaves the application seeking consent only for a pair of semi detached houses.

Selbourne Drive Conservation Area

Pre application advice directed the applicant to the Character Appraisal of the Selbourne Drive Conservation Area and, in particular, paragraphs 3.1 and 3.18.

Paragraph 3.1 describes how upper Douglas is characterised by a small number of distinctive neighbourhoods that share the common feature of a wide variety of house designs periodical over the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian eras together with the multiplicity of architectural themes distinct to the Arts and Crafts era.

Paragraph 3.18 describes how the Arts and Crafts influence became particularly noticeable in Tennis Road leading to a full diversity of new and hybrid design styles and an almost complete departure from the period homogeneity.

The pre application discussion pointed out the need for the application to show the setting of any proposal in the present streetscape and this has been illustrated on the proposals drawings. Also outlined was that the proposal should take inspiration from the surrounding dwellings.

A number of design proposals have been discussed during the pre application process and the applicant is now confident that the design as proposed will preserve and enhance the Conservation Area to an equal or greater degree than other recent approvals do, for example, the consent granted to application number 16/0027/B which is attached for reference.

The Design

An initial design proposal was presented at the pre application design discussion. There were a number of issues requiring address on the initial proposal. Aside from the conservation requirement to take inspiration from the surroundings, the proposal was considered to be excessive in terms of height and depth.

Both of these issues have been addressed and the proposal now sits approximately 1 metre lower than it originally did and the decreased depth has afforded a greater degree of amenity space to the rear of the proposal, certainly enough for a town house.

However, concerns over massing cannot be valid when considered against, again, the consent granted under 16/0027/B for five dwellings in a continuous terrace constructed directly off the gable of number 4 Tennis Road and the earlier construction of the block of three flats directly off the gable of house number 3.

The proposal sits clear of number 5 and will not impact number 7 as is evident from the streetscape illustration.

Further advice arising from the pre application advice were that the proposal could simply mimic the existing pair of semi detached houses to the right at numbers or that an alternative proposal could be submitted with no provision for off street parking in view of the low demand for on street parking to the area.

The applicant considers that simple mimicry of numbers would be to plan to a dated design which would be unimaginative on the part of the applicant.

In any event, to mimic something existing or to design something new, with no off street parking provision in either case, would immediately place the proposal contrary to the requirements of the Strategic Plan. As proposed, whilst the driveway openings cause the loss of two on-street spaces, the proposal provides four off-street, a net gain of two spaces.

The applicant believes that the proposal as submitted offers the best use of the site with appropriate modern dwellings which are inspired by, and contribute to, the preservation of the conservation area.

The Office of the Applicant 16th October 2017