Officer Report

Application No.: 18/00608/B Applicant: Mrs Helen Allan Proposal: Variation of condition 3 of PA 12/00646/B, Erection of a replacement outbuilding to provide ancillary office/store, to convert office / store to tourist living accommodation Site Address: Thie Gennal Foxdale Road St Johns Isle Of Man IM4 3AP Planning Officer: Miss Lucy Kinrade Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 08.10.2018 _________________________________________________________________

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

• C 2. The outbuilding must be used only for domestic storage and as a home office ancillary to the existing dwelling or for tourist accommodation in accordance with this approval.

Reason: The Department has assessed the impact of the proposal on the basis of the specific uses and any alternative uses will require further consideration.

• C 3. The additional use of the building for tourist accommodation may only be used from up to 7 days before the first day of practice week for the TT and up to 7 days after the last race day of the TT, and up to 7 days before the first day of practice week for the Manx Grand Prix/Festival of Motorcycling races and up to 7 days after the last race day of the Manx Grand Prix/Festival of Motorcycling races, and in any event no longer than 6 weeks in any one year.

Reason: The Department has assessed the impact of the proposal on the specific periods required for in the application and any alternative periods of tourist use will require further consideration.

• C 4. The outbuilding shall not be occupied at any time other than for purposes incidental to the residential use of the dwelling known as 'Thie Gennal' as identified on the approved plans and shall not be occupied as a separate independent dwelling unit.

Reason: To ensure proper control of the development and to avoid any future undesirable fragmentation of the curtilage.

N 1. As a note, the applicant is reminded that this approval does not guarantee tourist accommodation registration under the Tourist Act (1975) or any homestay registration which are to be addressed through separate processes and requirements.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This approval relates to site plan, location plan, existing floor plan, proposed floor plan, associated site photographs and supporting statement all date stamped and received 12/06/2018.

_______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

NONE _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site forms the residential curtilage of Thie Gennal, St Johns an existing dwelling located on the western side of Foxdale Road and adjacent to St Johns Football Club. The existing dwelling is set back from the main road with an area of driveway surrounding an existing garage which front directly onto the highway. There is parking available for up to 5 vehicles off the road albeit some in tandem. - 1.2 To the north side of the main dwelling is an existing outbuilding which was approved in

• 2012 under PA 12/00646/B for the erection of a replacement outbuilding to provide ancillary office/store. The building comprises 3 sections arranged in a stepped design and each finished with mono-pitched roof. The building provides a garden store, an outside WC and a small home office which opens out on to the dwellings rear decking.

2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Proposed is the additional use of the existing office/store outbuilding for tourist accommodation across 4 months of the year around the TT and Festival of Motorcycling periods May/June and August/September but for no more than 6 weeks in a year. - 2.2 No other alterations or external changes are proposed.

3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 The most relevant application in the case of this is PA 12/00646/B for the original development of the replacement outbuilding which was approved in 2012 subject to a number of conditions including Condition 3 which stated:

"The building must be used only for domestic storage and as a home office as shown by Drawing 09 0603/3. The building must be used only in a manner that is ancillary to the existing dwelling and must not be used as habitable accommodation."

3.2 The officer's report for the application indicated that the Local Commissioners had concern that the building would be not used as proposed and could have impact on neighbouring amenity. The officer concluded in the recommendation that the "proposed development would not result in any unacceptable impacts upon adjacent properties or the surrounding area in general. The use of the building can be controlled through the attachment of a condition."

4.0 PLANNING POLICY - 4.1 Local Area Plan - St Johns Local Plan 1999. Land use designation - Residential. - 4.2 The following policies of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 are considered most relevant:

• o Paragraph 9.5.8: "The use of existing private residential properties as tourist accommodation may be acceptable if it can be demonstrated that it will not compromise the amenities of any neighbouring residents."
• o Business Policy 13: "Permission will generally be given for the use of private residential properties as tourist accommodation providing that it can be demonstrated that such use would not compromise the amenities of neighbouring residents."

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the Government's website. This report contains summaries only. Patrick Commissioners

• o No objection (10/07/2018) Department of Infrastructure (DOI) Highways Division
• o DEF - Defer (dated 23/07/2018) o The comments from highways indicate that the existing parking is sufficient to meet

the standards of the Strategic Plan and sufficient enough to accommodate the additional parking from the proposed tourist accommodation, but that due to the unknown wording of Condition 3 of the original approval and whether its variation would have a highways impact, Highway Services have recommended the application be deferred until such a time that the wording of the condition is clarified. o Support (dated 25/09/2018)

• The wording of condition 3 of the previous application would not have any highway impact, thus the proposal is consider to provide sufficient parking for the existing house and the proposed tourist use.

Neighbours' views o No comments received.

- 6.0 ASSESSMENT

6.1 The application seeks approval for the additional use of an existing office/store outbuilding within the curtilage of an existing dwelling as tourist accommodation for 6 weeks of the year around the motorcycle racing periods. The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment and determination of this planning application are the impact of the proposal on the living conditions of the immediate neighbours and the impact on local amenity. - 6.2 Although there is generally a view in favour of using residential properties for tourist accommodation as outlined in Business Policy 13, there can be times whereby this is opposed. There have been a small number of refusals given to applications looking to gain the same permission; the use of flats for tourist accommodation could potentially have a damaging effect on the amenities of others through the comings and goings of tourists in comparison to

• permanent residents, although most are granted approval there has been an instance of one refusal - PA 04/00194/C.
• 6.3 Concern lies in the potential to cause disruptions to the immediate neighbouring properties. In terms of differentiating a tourist and a permanent resident it is often difficult to define how each would behave. As a tourist, a person may be out a lot of the time, but may also have a greater number of late nights and be disruptive on return. On the other hand, permanent residents may be at home more, and could be more likely to invite friends or family over for dinner or parties that may be noisy. In general the majority of people tend to behave well and raise no concerns, although there will always be a percentage that may not behave. However, in this case the proposed tourist accommodation is within the grounds of an existing dwelling where there is likely to be an element of control when it comes to amenity impacts especially as the homeowners will be living in such close proximity and within the same site.
• 6.4 It is likely that the comings and goings of residents or tourists will be no more apparent than those already living or visiting the nearby area. The property is reasonably small and not sized to accommodate a large numbers of tourists which will help towards limiting any potential disruption on neighbouring amenity and living conditions.
• 6.5 The existing dwelling has suitable and sufficient off road parking available to meet with the parking standards for the existing dwelling and to meet with the needs of the proposed tourist use ensuring there is no demand for on street parking resulting in vehicle congestion on the main road.
• 6.6 The proposed tourist use is reasonably small scale and unlikely to result in any unreasonable impacts on neighbouring amenity or living conditions. The proposed additional tourist use is for 6 weeks of the year and the application has been assessed on this basis therefore a suitably worded condition should be added to reflect this period of use.

- 7.0 CONCLUSION

7.1 In view of the lack of concern raised from neighbouring residents and the local Commissioners with respect to the proposal and that Highway Services are in support of the application, it is considered that there is no demonstrable harm arising and, in view of the provisions of Paragraph 9.5.8 and Business Policy 13, the application is recommended for approval subject to a condition relating to the period of use as per the time requested by the applicant in the application. - 8.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS

8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order

• 2013 Article 6(4), the following persons are automatically interested persons:

• (a) The applicant, or if there is one, the applicant's agent;
• (b) The owner and the occupier of any land that is the subject of the application or any other person in whose interest the land becomes vested;
• (c) Any Government Department that has made written submissions relating to planning considerations with respect to the application that the Department considers material
• (d) Highway Services Division of Department of Infrastructure and
• (e) The local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated. 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 in Article 6(4) 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.

Decision Made : Permitted Date: 11.10.2018 Determining officer

Signed : A MORGAN Abigail Morgan Principal Planner

Customer note

This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the file copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online services/customers and archive records.