Decision Notice

CABINET OFFICE Government Office DOUGLAS Isle of Man IM1 3PN Direct Line (01624) 685280 Email [email protected] CHIEF SECRETARY Mr Will Greenhow ACMA 16th April 2018

Our Reference: DF17/0008 Planning Application Reference Number: 17/01254/B

Planning Secretary Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture Planning and Building Control Division Murray House Mount Havelock Douglas

Dear Sir/Madam,

Town And Country Planning Act 1999

The Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure)(No 2) Order 2013

The Planning Inspector appointed by the Council of Ministers has now considered the application and submitted his report in accordance with Article 10(9) of The Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013.

On 12th April 2018 the Council of Ministers considered the recommendations of the Planning Inspector and determined to approve the application subject to the conditions specified below.

M. C. C. L. O. W.

Mr W Greenhow ACMA Chief Secretary

Date of Issue: 16th April 2018

Application
Applicant:	Glen Helen Glamping Limited
Proposal:	Demolition of former Glen Helen Inn and erection of a single storey welcome centre with cafe facility, and the erection of 12 glamping pods for tourist accommodation
Address	Glen Helen Lodge, Glen Helen, St Johns IM4 3NP

Conditions of Approval

1) The development hereby permitted shall commence before the expiration of four years from the date of this notice.

Reason: to comply with Article 14 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No2) Order 2013 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

2) Prior to the undertaking of any other works on site, the protective measures described in Section 2 of the Manx Roots report dated 6 November, 2017, must be undertaken in full and retained as described in the report. The construction must be undertaken in full accordance with the recommendations in Section 2 of this report.

Reason: to ensure that the wooded setting of the site is retained, particularly given the quality of the trees immediately surrounding the proposed buildings.

3) The proposed planting as shown in drawing 1708/03B must be undertaken at latest, in the first planting season following the completion of the development.

Reason: in order to provide an acceptable landscaped setting for the development.

4) The tree house pod and that immediately alongside may not be used until and until the screens shown in drawing 1708/03B have been installed and such screens must be retained thereafter.

Reason: to ensure that the amenities of the occupants of the pods and those in Clyeen Cottage are protected.

5) No demolition may take place until such times as the applicant has undertaken a survey for the presence of bats and this has been approved by the Department. If any bats are found, a scheme to protect them during the demolition must be approved by the Department and the works undertaken in accordance with these details.

Reason: whilst the demolition of the building does not require planning approval, bats are protected under the Wildlife Act 1993 and the Department should not approve works which could result in a breach of this Act without the appropriate precautions in terms of informing the applicant of the situation.

In accordance with statute, please be advised that the decision of the Council of Ministers is binding and final.

All parties should note that there is no prescribed right of appeal relevant to the Council of Ministers' decision herein and accordingly the only right of challenge is by a petition of doleance brought to the High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man, such doleance proceedings required to be issued promptly and in any event within three months.

Yours faithfully,

Mr A Johnstone Planning Appeals Administrator On behalf of the Chief Secretary

Crown Division Government Offices Douglas Isle of Man 6 April 2018

To the Council of Ministers Case Ref DF17/0008 Application Ref 17/01254/B Application by Glen Helen Glamping Limited for Planning Approval for the demolition of the former Glen Helen Inn and construction of a new single-storey Welcome Centre with cafe facility and the erection of 12 No Glamping Pods for tourist accommodation at Glen Helen Inn, Glen Helen, St Johns, Isle of Man, IM4 3NP.

1. I have the honour to report that, on 20 March 2018, I carried out a site visit at the above location. The case is being made by written representations.

Procedural Matters

1. Pursuant to Section 10(1)(b) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No2) Order 2013, the application must be considered by the Council of Ministers, not the Planning Authority. This is because the application site includes the car park to the Glen Helen Inn adjacent to the A3 TT course, which is owned by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA), of which the Planning Authority forms part.

Site Description and the Proposal

1. The application site comprises the curtilage of the Glen Helen Inn and the adjacent car park beside the TT course. The Inn is closed and it is proposed to demolish the existing building and erect twelve timber, tourist camping pods, each providing a bedroom, living room, kitchen and shower, together with a Welcome Centre with timber elevations under a sedum roof, incorporating a café. The Welcome Centre would be set on a stone gabion plinth.
2. The single storey Welcome Centre building would be 19 m by 10.7 m in overall dimension. Eleven of the pods would be 6 m by 4 m on plan by 3.1 m high with a curved roof and one would be in the form of tree. The Welcome Centre and ten round-topped pods would occupy the footprint of the present Inn, together with a communal barbecue area, whilst two pods, including the novelty tree pod, would be sited in front of the Welcome Centre, facing the car park.
3. The car park would be reformed with a DEFA licence to reserve 15 spaces for users of the proposed development.

1. Nine Redwood and Western Red Cedar trees around the existing building would be retained and protected during the works, in accordance with a submitted arboricultural report.
2. The area occupied by the pods would be landscaped with boardwalks between the pods, connecting to the Welcome Centre.

Submissions by the Applicants in Support of the Application

The material points are:

1. The Inn fails to fulfil its intended use and would require substantial investment to modify it for any other use. The building is not sympathetic to its environment, is no longer fit for purpose and would not benefit from further alteration. No concerns have been raised, in connection with an earlier application, to the loss of the building.
2. The pods would be of family size, responding to the current trend for high quality tourist accommodation. The Welcome Centre could be hired to local groups for such as meetings, public talks and film nights.
3. The proposed buildings have been designed to be sympathetic to their surroundings and would be similar to publicly accessible buildings in UK woodland settings. They would be less dominant in the landscape than the existing building and the use of sedum roofing would help the building to be absorbed into the landscape and assist in controlling surface water run-off. The gabion baskets forming the stone plinth would be filled with local stone and would also provide external bench seating.
4. The proposed development would be set back at least 9.1 m from the nearby River Neb, in compliance with the requirements of both DEFA and Manx Utilities.
5. Levels of external illumination would be kept at a low level in the interests of wildlife including bats. Landscape planting, proposed as part of the scheme, would also provide screening to reduce light reaching spawning fish in the River Neb, of concern to Inland Fisheries.
6. A Site Manager would be available at all times ensure that noise levels would be kept to an acceptable level.
7. The existing sewage treatment plant serving the Inn, once overhauled, would be sufficient to cater for the reduced waste output of the proposed development.
8. The development, including at least one of the pods, is intended to provide level, wheelchair access.
9. The tree house pod would be screened and orientated eastward to avoid direct overlooking towards neighbouring Clyeen Cottage. The smaller pod

alongside would also have a timber screen along with shrub planting, which would also reduce intervisibility between the two pods.

1. The Applicants are experienced in the glamping sector of the tourist industry. The project would be partly self-funded and partly DED grant aided and could produce some £1.3 million annual economic activity for the Island. The project could be operational by May 2018.

Planning History

1. Previous applications to redevelop the Glen Helen Inn site for residential purposes have been unsuccessful at appeal, on grounds including unsustainable rural location and insufficient evidence of redundancy of the present tourism-related use.

Planning Policy

1. The site lies within a wider area of Woodland and land identified as an Area of High Landscape Value and Scenic Significance (AHLV) on the Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Development Plan) Order 1982.

1. The adopted Strategic Plan of 2016 contains a range of policies against new development in the countryside and seeks to direct new built development to existing settlements, in the interests of sustainability and preserving the character of the countryside.

1. There are exceptions to this, identified in General Policy 3 (GP3). These include, at criterion (c), previously developed land which contains a significant amount of building, where the continued use is redundant; where redevelopment would reduce the impact of the current situation on the landscape or the wider environment; and where the development proposed would result in improvements to the landscape or wider environment.

1. Environment Policies 1-3 (EP1-3) of the Strategic Plan together protect the countryside, its ecology and woodland and the landscape of AHLVs. EP7 protects watercourses.

Representations Received

The material points are:

1. German Parish Commissioners have no objection to the application.

1. Highway Services comment as follows: The DEFA-owned car park provides 64 spaces with permission for former Inn patrons to make use of them. The car park is currently under-used since the closure of the Inn and reduced opening hours of the nearby Swiss House restaurant. Access and egress arrangements should be reviewed and formalised to provide the maximum possible visibility splays along the A3. The car park layout should be reviewed to maximise efficiency and to segregate

the 15 spaces required for the glamping proposal. The submission of the Applicants is noted that parking demand from the development, including passing café trade, would be less than that previously associated with the Inn and Swiss House restaurant.

1. DEFA advises a bat survey prior to demolition of the Inn with measures to protect bats if found. DEFA also advises advance pruning of trees, to avoid damage during demolition, and compliance with the specialist arboricultural impact assessment and method statement to ensure protection retained trees.

1. The Department for Enterprise welcomes the retention of the site for tourism and confirms that it has been working with the Applicants on the design of the proposal. The scheme supports a number of Government policies and Strategies including the Programme for Government 2016-2021, the Tourist Act 1975, Destination Management Plan 2016-2020, the non-serviced accommodation Futures Study 2017 and Vision 2020, all of which support the Island as a place for people to visit and improving the quality and range of accommodation available.

1. A number of interested persons support the application, considering that the development would provide a well needed facility for tourists and local people alike, especially on a site with a disused building. They consider that this type of camping is preferable to temporary use of football and rugby pitches and will extend the camping season on the Island.

Advice from the DEFA Planning and Building Control Directorate

The material points are:

1. As the site is not designated for development, the main issue in this case is whether the proposal complies with the exceptional provisions of General Policy 3 and if not, whether there are any material considerations which would justify a departure from the policy, which presumes against development in the countryside. In addition to this major consideration, it is also relevant to consider the detailed impacts of the proposal on highway safety, visual amenity and the environment.

1. General Policy 3(c) deals with previously developed land and requires that the site contain a significant amount of built development, as in this case, and that the present use is redundant. The lack of successful operation of the site as a hotel and restaurant suggests that the site cannot be operated in an economically viable way. As the proposal development involves the use of the site by tourists and includes a cafe facility, it is not considered necessary to demonstrate that the existing use as an Inn is redundant. There are no policies which expressly presume in favour of particular types of tourist-related development.

1. GP3(c) also requires, for exceptional justification, that redevelopment would reduce the impact of the current use of the site on the landscape or the wider environment or result in improvements to the landscape or

wider environment. The existing building does not make a positive contribution to this rural location and this is not entirely due to its lack of maintenance. The building has clearly been altered and extended to the point that it has little obvious architectural style; rather it comprises a mix of materials and finishes, roof shapes and styles which cumulatively result in a very muddled and not particularly attractive building. What is proposed is consistent, in itself, in terms of the welcome facility, would be smaller and relatively low-lying, and its construction in natural materials would enable it to sit much more comfortably in its wooded setting. All this would lead to a reduced impact and more positive effect on the environment, in full accordance with the GP3.

1. The development is not likely to result in more people coming to the site than was previously the case when the restaurant and Inn were operational. This has positive impacts on highway safety and on those living near the site. Due to the size of the car park, vehicle parking has never previously spilled onto the main road or given rise to objection to previous redevelopment proposals for the application site.
2. The proposal is considered to be in accordance with all of the relevant policies and will provide the Island with a modern and desirable form of tourist accommodation which should enhance the local economy.
3. Whilst conditions are often attached to tourist accommodation development to restrict the periods of occupancy, in this case, the units are clearly not designed for permanent occupation and are smaller than are recommended in the Housing (Standards) Regulations 2013 for that use. Therefore, no occupancy condition is deemed necessary.
4. However, any approval should be subject to conditions that, prior to any demolition, a survey for bats must be undertaken by a competent person and mitigation secured for any bats found and that the existing trees on the site are protected.

Assessment by the Inspector

1. I agree with the advice of the Planning Authority and consider the main issues to be whether the proposed development is justified in terms of the exceptional provisions of GP3(c) for redevelopment of previously developed land in the countryside, as well as its effects on highway safety, the visual amenity of the AHLV and other aspects of the environment.
2. I see no policy objection to the application in principle, whether or not the Inn is now redundant because, as now proposed, the site would remain in tourist-related use.
3. Due to their relatively low profile and the use of natural finishing materials, I consider that the Welcome Centre and twelve glamping pods would be unobtrusive compared with the existing Glen Helen Inn and more in sympathy with their rural, woodland surroundings within the

AHLV. The impact of the development would accordingly be less than that of the present Inn and its visual effects positive, in terms of GP3(c).

1. The traffic and parking generation would also be reduced compared with the present use of the site, such that there is no planning justification for a condition to improve the highway access or car park.

1. I am equally satisfied that the environmental impacts of the proposed development on the AHLV, ecology, woodland and the River Neb could be controlled, in compliance with EP1-3 and EP7, by planning conditions to require a bat survey and tree protection, as well as to ensure the completion of the proposed landscape planting and the screening to the front-most pods in order to minimise light pollution and overlooking.

1. I conclude, overall, that planning approval should be granted, subject to the conditions outlined above.

1. In further support of the application, there would be economic benefits to the Island economy flowing from the proposed development.

RECOMMENDATION

1. I Recommend that planning approval be granted for the demolition of the former Glen Helen Inn and construction of a new single storey Welcome Centre with cafe facility and the erection of 12 No Glamping Pods for tourist accommodation at Glen Helen Inn, Glen Helen, St Johns, Isle of Man, IM4 3NP as shown on Drwg Nos 1708/01, 1708/02, 1708/04, 1708/05 and 1708/06 together with the tree protection measures provided in the Manx Roots report dated 6th November, 2017, all received on 5th December, 2017 and 1708/03B received on 31st January, 2018, and subject to the following conditions:

1) The development hereby permitted shall commence before the expiration of four years from the date of this notice.

Reason: to comply with Article 14 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No2) Order 2013 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

2) Prior to the undertaking of any other works on site, the protective measures described in Section 2 of the Manx Roots report dated 6 November, 2017, must be undertaken in full and retained as described in the report. The construction must be undertaken in full accordance with the recommendations in Section 2 of this report.

Reason: to ensure that the wooded setting of the site is retained, particularly given the quality of the trees immediately surrounding the proposed buildings.

3) The proposed planting as shown in drawing 1708/03B must be undertaken at latest, in the first planting season following the completion of the development.

Reason: in order to provide an acceptable landscaped setting for the development. 4) The tree house pod and that immediately alongside may not be used until and until the screens shown in drawing 1708/03B have been installed and such screens must be retained thereafter.

Reason: to ensure that the amenities of the occupants of the pods and those in Clyeen Cottage are protected. 5) No demolition may take place until such times as the applicant has undertaken a survey for the presence of bats and this has been approved by the Department. If any bats are found, a scheme to protect them during the demolition must be approved by the Department and the works undertaken in accordance with these details.

Reason: whilst the demolition of the building does not require planning approval, bats are protected under the Wildlife Act 1993 and the Department should not approve works which could result in a breach of this Act without the appropriate precautions in terms of informing the applicant of the situation.

B J Sims

Brian J Sims BSc CEng MICE MRTPI Independent Inspector