Loading document...
Application No.: 20/00227/B Applicant: Triskelion Polo Club Ltd Proposal: Use of fields for equestrian purposes including the erection of temporary marquee annually from 1st April to 30th September. Site Address: Ballacooiley Dollagh Ballaugh Isle Of Man IM7 5AS Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken: 24.03.2020 Site Visit: 24.03.2020 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 11.05.2020 _________________________________________________________________
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
Reason: to clarify the extent of the approval having regard to the application and to the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development)(Temporary Uses) Order 2015.
Reason: in the interests of the character and appearance of the site and to prevent unwarranted structures remaining in areas not designated for development.
encouraged to include information to welcome car sharing and sustainable methods of travelling to the site.
Reason: to ensure free and safe use of the highway and to protect the living conditions of those in neighbouring properties.
N 1. The applicant is encouraged to consider the provision of passing places along the entrance driveway which would provide formal opportunities for vehicles to pass each other without damaging grass or trees alongside the drive.
This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The application is considered to accord with Environment Policies 1, 2, 10, 13, 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the Strategic Plan.
Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to drawings 01, 02 and 03 all received on 6th March, 2020. _______________________________________________________________
Additional Persons
It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following property 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 4(2):
Brookside, as they satisfy all of the requirements of paragraph 2 of the Department's Operational Policy on Interested Person Status (2019). _____________________________________________________________________________
THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE SITE IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE DEVELOPMENT DOES NOT COMPLY WITH ANY OF THE EXCEPTIONS GIVEN IN GENERAL POLICY 3 OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN AND IS RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL
1.1 The site is part of the holding of Ballacooiley - a farm holding to the west of the Dollagh north of Ballaugh village. This is shown on the Location Plan (drawing 01). The holding accommodates a main, large house and a small number of outbuildings which are generally grouped around the house. Access is via a long driveway which passes a small number of dwellings and a sewage treatment works before accessing onto the A10. - 1.2 The buildings are some distance from the entrance which is formed by stone pillars and walls which leads into a surfaced driveway which winds up to the house and outbuildings. The fields either side are level and grassed. - 1.3 The site is generally hidden from view by the surrounding topography and existing established woodland. - 1.4 The entrance to the site is a little distance from the road and there are two means of accessing the main highway separated by a triangle of grass. At the time of the site visit there was a one way system operating so that vehicles enter the area from the southern access and exit by the one slightly to the north. This is understood to be associated with the development
2.1 The application site involves only part of the overall holding, as shown on the Site Plan (drawing 02). Proposed is the use of two large fields on either side of the entrance drive, for equestrian recreation purposes (polo) and the erection of a marquee for temporary periods. The maximum size of the marquee will be 36m by 12m and an image is provided of the type of structure envisaged - drawing 03 entitled "Support Info.pdf (the last image in the series) on the Government's online services. - 2.2 They explain that the two fields are not used for crops and have historically been mown and used for horse shows, weddings and other private events, currently used for polo events. The adjacent land is used for haylage and for the grazing of 40 horses. There are approximately 9 polo events per year and hospitality takes the form of food trailers and mobile welfare facilities. These facilities are installed and removed before and after each event. The marquee would allow one installation at the start of the season (01.04) and remain throughout the summer. Any music and alcohol sale would be subject to the appropriate applications for licence which involves public advertisement and the opportunity to object. - 2.3 The horses involved in the polo are already on site and the main traffic relates to cars bearing riders and spectators and numbers range from 5-6 on a daily basis and 40-50 when there is an event. These have been carried out without complaint. Access is past the sewage treatment works (stw) where Manx Utilities are considering improving manoeuvring space for its vehicles. - 2.4 As the site lies within a Flood Risk Area, an assessment has been undertaken. The owner is aware of two flooding events near the entrance bridge, both occurring in January within 30 years. MU have carried out bank reinforcement and are currently working on improvements to the access to the stw. Since the bank works the river levels have not been anywhere near as high as previously. The marquee is not proposed to be there in the winter. No overnight sleeping is proposed. If flooding were to occur the event would be cancelled. - 2.5 80 parking spaces are shown, informally arranged on both sides of the entrance drive. PLANNING POLICY
3.1 The site lies within an area designated on The Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Development Plan) Order 1982 as not for a particular purpose and of High Landscape Value and Scenic Significance. The house is within an area of Woodland. - 3.2 Whilst the site is not designated for development and the proposed use for equestrian recreation is a change of use from agricultural, there is an acknowledgement in the Strategic Plan, Environment Policies 19, 20 and 21, that equestrian development can be acceptable and it is generally accepted that equestrian activity is, can and should be undertaken in the Island's countryside:
3.3 On the Soil Classification maps the site lies within an area recognised as Glacial Deposits and class 3-4. - 3.4 Environment Policies 1 and 2 identify the safeguarding of the countryside for its own sake as a primary concern and the protection of the character of the rural areas as a primary consideration. - 3.5 Environment Policy 22 presumes against any development which would cause environmental harm:
"Development will not be permitted where it would unacceptably harm the environment and/or the amenity of nearby properties in terms of:
3.6 Environment Policies 10 and 13 presume against development which would be at unacceptable risk of or would exacerbate the risk of flooding to other areas. PLANNING HISTORY
4.1 The most recent application in the vicinity of this site was 19/00427/B for the replacement of the stw. No applications have been submitted for the application fields. REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Highway Services are content that there is sufficient car parking and that the existing maximised visibility is acceptable. They advise that passing places every 40m to allow safe passage would be useful and could also serve to protect damage to grass and trees. They suggest that an Advance Event Management Plan should be submitted to the Department to prevent parking on the public highway and on the driveway, including calendar and timing of events, access and parking arrangements and notification on booking of the opportunity for sharing vehicles and marshalling to manage traffic. It may also be helpful to impose a condition on operating hours (04.05.20).
5.2 The owners of Brookside confirm that they have no objection to the application but note that for the next 12 months traffic access, egress and parking may be an issue whilst the works to the stw continues. They comment that an event in 2019 resulted in parking on the A10 and "egress from the site via the Dollagh Green might be unusually busy and noisy, say, towards midnight on Saturday evenings". They also suggest that using the marquee for summer social events such as wedding receptions and gymkhanas may result in the area being noisy with music and public address announcements. They access that it may be difficult to be too prescriptive and taking into account wind direction, natural barriers and weather, they ask what
measures may be applied to ensure that noises are restricted to reasonable hours. They have no objection but ask that due deference to the living conditions of the neighbours to the site (08.04.20).
6.1 The issues are whether the use of the land for equestrian recreation purposes is acceptable; whether the marquee will adversely affect the character and appearance of the countryside; whether the proposed use including the holding of events which generate additional traffic would have any adverse impact on the living conditions of those who live near the site and the impact of this on highway safety. As the site lies within a flood risk zone, it is also relevant to consider the impact of the development on flooding and vice versa. The use of the land for equestrian recreation purposes
6.2 Whilst the keeping of horses where they are exercised or in this case, used for recreation is a material change of use which requires planning approval, the grazing of the horses on this land would not require planning approval. In this case, the equestrian activity goes beyond grazing and includes uses which would result in the generation of traffic, noise and human activity which are significantly different from what would arise if the land were being used for agricultural purposes, solely for grazing or simply as open space. That said, the polo will contribute to the diversification of the farm holding and will use land which is not overly productive in terms of the agricultural quality of the ground and will provide a recreation activity which should generally be encouraged if there are no adverse environmental impacts as a result. The marquee
6.3 The marquee, whilst not a particularly small structure, will have a limited impact in itself due to the size of the site, the distance from any adjacent dwellings and the public view and the existing established vegetation. Such a structure could be erected without planning approval for short periods of time under the provisions of the Temporary Uses (Permitted Development) Order 2015 so whatever the impact of the proposal, this could be experienced for shorter periods throughout the year. The retention of the structure is not likely to have an adverse environmental impact and its retention rather than the continuous setting up and taking down and transporting to and from the site is likely to be more sustainable and less disruptive to those living close by. The impact of the proposed use on the living conditions of those who live near the site - 6.4 Given the distance between the polo field and the nearest house - Pear Tree Cottage - and the established vegetation between them, it is not considered that the polo will have any adverse impact on the living conditions of those in this property. Other dwellings are much further away. However, all of the dwellings in the immediate vicinity - Pear Tree Cottage, Riverside Cottage, Brookside, Thie Dollagh and Ballacooiley Cottage will all be affected by the additional traffic which will be generated by the proposed use. It is interesting to note that the polo has been carried out here for a season and there have been no complaints to the Planning and Building Control Directorate in respect of any breach of planning control nor, according to the applicant, any complaints directly to them. It is not recommended that conditions are attached to constrain the hours of operation as the applicant could undertake the events without permission under the TUPDO. Also, it would be inappropriate for planning to seek to control noise levels as any amplified music or speaker systems would require approval through the Licensing system and a planning condition would duplicate this. The impact of the proposed use on highway safety - 6.5 No adverse comments have been received from Highway Services. The activity will result in additional traffic using the access and the local highway network in terms of those attending to play polo and any spectators or support vehicles (caterers for example). Visibility at the entrance of the site is limited in the direction of Ballaugh village. However, given the slightly slower speeds of traffic passing through the hamlet compared with that on the straighter parts
of the A10 and the fact that the activity which would give rise to the major increase in traffic could happen anyway under the Temporary Uses Order, this is not considered to be objectionable. The retention of the marquee on the site rather than it being brought to and taken from the site for the various times it is required, will reduce the use of the access.
Flooding
6.6 Whilst the site lies within an area recognised by Manx Utilities as being at risk of flooding from the Ballaugh River, the applicant has evidence from local knowledge of where that flooding occurs and it does not affect the application site. It is also relevant that the use of the site would only occur in the summer when flooding events are less likely to happen and if such events were likely to occur, it is not likely that the polo would be scheduled or the marquee used.
7.1 The holding of events which necessitate the marquee does not need planning approval as they could be undertaken under the Temporary Uses Order 2015. The marquee itself is not considered to have any environmentally harmful impact due to the limited view of it. The polo activity is considered an appropriate use of the land which will not result in any significant or harmful impact on the environment including the living conditions of those in nearby dwellings or highway safety. The application is therefore considered to accord with Environment Policies 1, 2, 10, 13, 19, 20, 21 and 22 and is recommended for approval. INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019, the following persons are automatically interested persons:
I confirm that this decision has been made by the Planning Committee in accordance with the authority afforded to it under the appropriate delegated authority.
Decision Made : …Permitted……….... Committee Meeting Date:…08.06.2020
Signed :………S BUTLER…………….. Presenting Officer
Signatory to delete as appropriate YES/NO See below
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 onlineservices/customers and archive records.
Copyright in submitted documents remains with their authors. Request removal
