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Application No.: 19/00911/D Applicant: Foxdale Heritage Proposal: Erection of information board Site Address: Disused Railway Line, From Dove Cottage To Costain's Yard Mines Road Foxdale Isle Of Man Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 20.01.2020 _________________________________________________________________
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
This permission relates to the information relating to the design and size of the sign received on 16th August, 2019 and the locational information received on 12th December, 2019. _______________________________________________________________
It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following properties should be given Interested Person Status as they are considered to have sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings and are not mentioned in Article 6(4):
6, Brookfield Terrace as they satisfy all of the requirements of paragraph 2 of the Department's Operational Policy on Interested Person Status (July 2018). _____________________________________________________________________________
Officer’s Report THE SITE
1.1 The site is a small piece of land situated on the former railway line public footpath which runs from the centre of Foxdale, alongside the school, north to join the main road A3, passing the rear of a number of houses which front onto the main road. THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Proposed is the installation of a signboard. This will have an area of just under a metre long, 70cm high and attached to two galvanised posts which support the board to 0.9m above ground level. The sign will contain information about the former railway line. The siting is in a slightly wider section of the footpath and alongside a bin, opposite an existing sign advising that vehicles are prohibited to use the footpath. The siting has been changed to take account of concerns raised by a local resident. Whilst the photographs of the new siting show the sign being out of the way of the land, the location plan is not so clear. PLANNING POLICY - 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Foxdale Local Plan of 1999 as Open Space. As such, there is a presumption against development as set out in Environment Policy 1 and General Policy 3 although the latter includes as an exception "(h) buildings or works required for interpretation of the countryside, its wildlife or heritage."
3.2 When it comes to applications for advertisement The Control of Advertisements Regulations 2013 makes clear that the only considerations which can be applied to applications made under them are in the interests of amenity and public safety. In the case of amenity, such things as the general characteristics of the area need to be taken into account along with the presence of any features of historic, architectural, cultural or similar interest and the public safety should consider the safety of any person using a road, railway, tramway, harbour or aerodrome including the obscuration of any traffic sign or similar. In understanding this impact we may also have consideration to General Policy 8 which specifically refers to rural advertisements:
3.3 General advice on rural adverts is found in General Policy 8: "Within rural areas the display of external advertisements will be permitted only where:
4.1 Planning approval was sought by Department of Infrastructure for the conversion of the footpath for a temporary period, to accommodate vehicles whilst road works were undertaken on the A24 and A3. This was withdrawn. REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Neither Highway Services nor Patrick Commissioners have any objection to the application (08.09.19 and 10.09.19) with Patrick Commissioners indicating that they had no further comment, on 15.01.20.
5.2 The owner of 6, Brookfield Terrace expresses concern that the position of the sign needs to be sufficiently set back so as not to prevent access to their family's fields (17.09.19). Clarification has
been sought (24.09.19) as to whether any change to the submission is necessary. No further comments have been received despite amended plans having been received.
6.1 The works are clearly intended to assist the interpretation by the public of the history of the footpath they are using and would comply with GP3h. The sign is modest in size and of a height to be readable by a variety of users and would of interest rather than intrusion to the enjoyment of the path. The amended siting as shown in the photograph should ensure that the board does not have any adverse impact on access for those using the area for access to vehicles and parking. As there are public highways either side, if the sign is erected such that it does then there are other mechanisms to prevent impediment to these accesses and infact the site is on land owned by the Department responsible for access.
6.2 The applicant is in the process of applying for a number (10) of these signs which will be erected around the village.
6.3 There is no objection to this application on the above basis. However, as advertisement consent is not required to change the content of a sign, and any other form of advertisement would not fall within GP3h it is important that a condition is attached to prevent the board being used to advertise anything else without prior approval. CONCLUSION - 7.1 The proposal is considered to add interest to the use of the footpath and without any adverse environmental impact and is supported. INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2013, the following persons are automatically interested persons:
I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.
Decision Made : Permitted Date : 29.01.2020 Determining officer
Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management
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