DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No.: 20/00292/C Applicant: Amore Du Plessis Proposal: Additional use of residence as a photography studio Site Address: 13 Ballaughton Park Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 1LA Planning Officer: Mr Peiran Shen Photo Taken: 26.03.2020 Site Visit: 26.03.2020 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 05.05.2020 _________________________________________________________________

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 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

• C 2. The use hereby approved shall only be undertaken between 9:00 to 18:00. The use shall not be undertaken at any time on Public Holidays.

Reason: To ensure that the development is undertaken in accordance with the application details and in the interest of protecting neighbouring living conditions.

• C 3. The area of the building to be used for photography studio shall be limited to that shown on the floor plans forming part of the application and the use hereby permitted shall not extend into any other part of the premises.

Reason: To minimise the disturbance to adjacent residential occupiers and to protect the residential character of the locality.

• C 4. The use hereby approved shall only be for the benefit of the applicant while they are resident at 13 Ballaughton Park, Douglas and no staff may be employed and/or work at the premises.

Reason: Although the specific details of this application have been found acceptable, any change to its operation will require fresh assessment.

• C 5. The driveway and access shall be kept available and unobstructed for parking at all times. Reason: To ensure construction of a satisfactory access and in the interests of highway safety.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. This application is considered to comply with General Policy 2, Business Policy 10 and Transport Policy 7 of the Strategic Plan.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This approval relates to the submitted documents, statement, location plan and internal plan date-stamped as having been received on 10th March 2020. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons

None _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS IT IS RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL BUT CONTRARY TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN.

1.0 THE SITE - 1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of 13 Ballaughton Park, Douglas, a threestorey mid-terrace property located on the southeast corner of Ballaughton Park.

2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 The proposed work is the additional use of the residence (3.3) as a photography studio (1.2). - 2.2 The applicants state that the studio would only take 1-2 customers a week and only operate between 9:00 and 18:00.

3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 There is no previous application considered materially relevant to this application.

4.0 PLANNING POLICY - 4.1 In terms of local policy, the site lies within an area designated as Predominantly Residential Use in the Douglas Local Plan 1998. - 4.2 In terms of strategic plan policy, the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains the following policies that are considered materially relevant to the assessment of this current planning application: - 4.3 General Policy 2: "Development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and proposals in the appropriate Area Plan and with other policies of this Strategic Plan will normally be permitted, provided that the development:

• (b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them;
• (c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape;

• (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;

• (h) provides satisfactory amenity standards in itself, including where appropriate safe and convenient access for all highway users, together with adequate parking, servicing and manoeuvring space;
• (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways; (k) does not prejudice the use or development of adjoining land in accordance with the appropriate Area Plan;".

4.4 Business Policy 10: "Retail development will be permitted only in established town and village centres, with the exceptions of neighbourhood shops in large residential areas." - 4.5 Transport Policy 7: "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards." - 4.6 Appendix 7.6 states that for neighbourhood shops space for staff, customers and service vehicles will be required. For assembly and leisure site, there should be 1 space per 15 square metres gross floor space.

5.0 REPRESENTATION - 5.1 Douglas Borough Council has no objection on this application (24/03/2020). - 5.2 DoI Highway Services does not oppose this application (01/04/2020).

- 6.0 ASSESSMENT

6.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment of the planning application is the principle of the additional use and the potential impacts of the proposal on the wider amenity. THE PRINCIPLE OF OPERATING A BUSINESS FROM THE SITE - 6.2 When looking at the principle of the additional use it should be acknowledged that permission has been approved and refused for the operation of businesses from a residential property, throughout the Island. - 6.3 The use class for a photography studio can vary from being a professional service (1.2) or an office (2.1). In this case, the studio is appropriate if put in a shopping centre so the class here will be determined as a professional service (class 1.2). - 6.4 13 Ballaughton Park is within a site designated for 'predominately residential use'. As such, the proposal could be seen as contrary to the land use designation. However, the application site will remain as a dwellinghouse in its majority. The proposed use is connected to the ancillary use of the dwelling and not a use in its own right over the existing use. There is also no external physical alteration proposed to the property, so there will be no visual impact in General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 based on the small-scale of its use. - 6.5 It should be noted that although 13 Ballaughton Park is not close to a town centre or commercial area, the impact of the proposed change of use is often run with an appointmentbased system and it's unlikely to draw away trade from the town or village centre by a materially harmful level. THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS UPON NEIGHBOURING AMENITIES - 6.6 The main concerns for this application relate to the impact upon on-street parking provisions and noise & general disturbances though people coming and going from the site. The applicants are the full-time occupants of the property, living within the other rooms within the property and will be the only people working from this address. The supporting information with the application indicates that the business is to operate seven days a week and will take

• clients between 9:00 and 18:00, with a typical client spent about 4 hours within the property and only 1-2 client a within a week.
• 6.7 In terms of neighbouring properties, due to the nature of the business, with only a single client at a time and no noisy activities being carried out, it is considered unlikely that there will be a significant impact on the neighbouring properties.
• 6.8 There could be concerns about the additional traffic and the parking available on site. The property has one parking space in front and use of a second space elsewhere on the estate (the latter being the one which the owner users). This means one space could be made available for customers. It is noted that DOI Highways have not objected. Whilst the traffic relates to the property is likely to increase above the existing, the additional traffic is hard to differentiate from that of a general household with frequent visitors, and therefore it is unlikely that the business would be significantly more disruptive than normal domestic activities that would otherwise be acceptable in a dwelling.
• 6.9 On balace, the proposal is considered to have provided with sufficient parking and thus not expected to result in any adverse highway safety impacts on the area. However, it is considered necessary to include a condition ensuring that the driveway is made available and unobstructed for the parking of vehicles at all times.

- 7.0 CONCLUSION

7.1 The proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2, Business Policy 10 and Transport Policy 7 of the Strategic Plan. Therefore, it is recommended for approval. - 8.0 INTEREST PERSON STATUS

8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019, the following persons are automatically interested persons:

• (a) the applicant (including an agent acting on their behalf);
• (b) any Government Department that has made written representations that the Department considers material;
• (c) the Highways Division of the Department of Infrastructure;
• (d) Manx National Heritage where it has made written representations that the Department considers material;
• (e) Manx Utilities where it has made written representations that the Department considers material;
• (f) the local authority in whose district the land which the subject of the application is situated; and
• (g) a local authority adjoining the authority referred to in paragraph (f) where that adjoining authority has made written representations that the Department considers material. 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 above who should be given Interested Person Status.

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:…13.07.2020 Signed :………P SHEN…………………………….. Presenting Officer

Further to the decision of the Committee an additional report/condition reason was required (included as supplemental paragraph to the officer report).

Signatory to delete as appropriate YES/NO See below

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