DEC Officer Report

Applicant: Miss Deborah Fisher Proposal Additional use of Performing Arts Studio (class 4.4) as a Community facility (class 4.3) Site Address The Chapel Nursery Avenue / Main Road Onchan Isle Of Man IM3 4HG Case Officer : Mrs Vanessa Porter Site Visit: Expected Decision Level Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation 29.10.2020

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 rear parking area shall at all times be made available for the parking of vehicles associated with the approved use and shall be retained available for such use thereafter. Reason: To provide off-street parking in the interest of highway safety.
• C 3. No customers shall be onsite outside the following times:

0900 and 2100 hours on weekdays (Monday to Friday); 0800 and 2100 hours on weekends (Saturday to Sunday); Reason: In order to maintain the amenities of the area and in line with those hours set out in the application form. N 1. The applicant is encouraged to undertake measures to ensure that their clients park safely and responsibly when using the facility.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The application complies with Community Policy 2, General Policy 2 and Appendix 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan and therefore acceptable.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 28th April 2020:

• o Site/Location Plan
• o Floor Plan _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following properties should not be given Interested Person Status as they are not 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):

30 Thorny Road is not within 20m of the application site and the development is not automatically required to be the subject of an EIA by Appendix 5 of the Strategic Plan and they have not explained how the development would impact the lawful use of land owned or occupied by them and in relation to the relevant issues in accordance with paragraph 2B and 2C of the Policy

________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE OFFICER IS RECOMMENDING AN APPROVAL AND THE LOCAL AUTHORITY HAVE OBJECTED THE APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is the former Chapel in the centre of Onchan which sits on the corner where Nursery Avenue meets the Main Road. Surrounding the property is a walled boundary which runs along the main road and Nursery Avenue. To the north end rear gable there is an area of off road car parking (11.5m x 5.2m), which joins the small service lane which runs between the chapel and No.1 Nursery Avenue providing access to the rear of the dwellings. - 1.2 The building is surrounded by a mix of uses which are typical for a village centre location with these uses including a library, commissioner's office, hairdresser and beauty salon, a Methodist church, youth club and playing fields and a number of residential properties. - 1.3 Planning Approval was obtained in 2019 under PA19/00403/C for the change of use of the chapel from offices to performing arts studio. THE PROPOSAL

2.1 The current planning application seeks approval to add an additional use of community facility (class 4.3) to the current use of performing arts studio (class 4.4). This use will enable the property to host the following events occasionally; indoor car boots, antiques fairs, craft fairs, pop-up auctions. Art exhibits and visual art workshops. - 2.2 The following is suggested times for the uses above; Indoor car boot, antique fairs, craft fairs - Saturday and/or Sundays 8am - 4pm Pop up Auctions - monthly for 3 days, 9am - 6pm Art Exhibits - 1 - 4x Annually, 2 - 3 weeks duration 10am - 6pm Visual art Workshops - weekends 9am - 6pm and/or 3 weekday evenings 6pm - 9pm 1-2x annually

2.3 The proposal will be adjacent to the existing use under PA19/00409/C. PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 The building currently has use as a performing arts studio during specific time limits which were specified within PA19/00403/C. Prior to this use the building was approved as offices under PA08/01928/B. - 3.2 Other applications for the change of use of the building have been refused of which PA09/00778/B & PA09/01481/B were for the change of use to children's nurseries and were refused for the lack of car parking, increase of traffic and the subsequent adverse impact on highway safety. PA87/00587/C was another refusal for the change of use to storage/offices/market. - 3.3 When looking at the previous two applications PA08/01928/B and PA19/00403/C, the following condition was attached regarding parking provisions, prior to commencement.

"The rear parking area shall at all times be made available for the parking of vehicles associated with the approved use and shall be retained available for such use thereafter. Reason: To provide off-street parking in the interest of highway safety."

PLANNING POLICY

4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Area of Buildings for Civic, Cultural or Other Special Use, Worship" on the Onchan Local Plan 2000. On the Area Plan for the East, draft plan, Map 6

• Onchan the building is under "Mixed Use."

4.2 Given the nature of the application it is necessary to consider Community Policy 2, General Policy 2 and Appendix 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016. - 4.3 Community Policy 2 states, "New community facilities should be located to serve the local population and be accessible to non-car users, and should where possible re-use existing vacant or underused buildings".

4.3 General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 states "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;

4.4 Appendix 7 - Parking Standards of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 states the following for the car parking acceptable on the site for the proposed use, "Assembly and leisure - 1 space per 15 square metres gross floor space."

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 Highway Services have considered the proposal and do not oppose (19.05.20).

5.2 Onchan Commissioners have considered the proposal and recommend refusal on the grounds that "there is insufficient parking provisions." (17.07.20). - 5.3 The owner/occupier of 30 Thorny Road have submitted comments stating, "For clarity, I'd like to confirm that The Arts Hub no longer holds the lease on this site. The original planning application approved in 2019 was submitted by The Arts Hub, however we no longer hold classes at this property and we are in no way connected to this application." ASSESSMENT

6.1 When looking at the planning history for the site we can see that the established uses are a former chapel, a theatre school, an office and a performing arts studio with the latter being the current approved use.

6.2 The proposal is in broad terms supported by Community Policy 2. It is necessary to assess the following with regards to the determination of this application, whether or not the principle of the change of use is acceptable in this location (noting that such uses shoudl be well located and try to reuse buildings), whether there are any impacts on the neighbouring residential amenity and whether there are any impacts on the highway and highway safety. PRINCIPLE - 6.3 When looking at the principle of the change of use the property is in a location that is surrounded by predominantly 'mixed use' areas to the east, south and west and has had several previous uses including a historic use as a church, a not so historic use for an office and a performing arts studio. - 6.4 Whilst the site is designated as "Area of Buildings for Civic, Cultural or Other Special Use, Worship," other uses within the property have been long established with the change to offices being in 2008 and as such this demonstrates that there was a lack of use for the property as a place of worship. - 6.5 In this case the property is located within the centre of Onchan which is identified as being a service village within the Isle of Man Strategic Plan. - 6.6 The proposal will make sure of an existing property which in this case is easily accessible on foot by most of the Onchan Community and is situated on a main bus route making use of the existing infrastructure and also within a short walking distance from the public car park of the Village Square and the Local Commissioners office. For this reason the principle of the use is considered to be acceptable in line with Strategic Policy 1. - 6.7 Whilst the principle of the use of this property for something other than "worship" is acceptable, it is necessary to assess whether the detail of the proposed use on this site is acceptable. The main two fundamental issues to look at are whether there is an impact on the neighbouring amenity and whether there are any highway implications with the proposed change of use. NEIGHBOURING AMENITY - 6.8 When looking at whether there would be an impact on the neighbouring amenity it is necessary to assess the proposed hours of operation, as explained above in section 2. Between everything proposed the opening times would be Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm and 8am to 9pm during the weekend (Saturday and Sunday). - 6.9 The property sits just outside of the village centre along the main road where there is already a general level of background noise which would be associated with such a location. Surrounding the site are varying uses including a library, band room, church, beauty salon, commissioner's office and takeaway services, all of which would have a general level of comings and goings. - 6.10 With the above in mind and when looking at the previous uses as an office and a performing arts school, some of the proposed uses would not be out of character or context with the locality. Whilst the proposed core hours of operation seem excessive due to all day use, none of the start or finish times are unreasonable with the earliest opening time being 8am at the weekend and the latest being 9pm. - 6.11 Whilst it could be argued that 8am would be too early to open up on a weekend it should be noted that the property is along the main road though Onchan which in itself would bring a

• base level of noise from people travelling through and there are also several stores which would be open at this time as well such as the co-op further down the road.
• 6.12 To the North of the property there are a number of residential properties, whilst there is nothing stated on this application the previously approved application for the Performing Arts Studio had the following said in the officers report, "the applicant has explained within their supporting information that one of the reasons they have selected the former chapel was due to its former use as a place of congregation and later as a theatre school and that with the building being built in traditional Manx stone that this will be expected to contain sound within the building. It further explains that the building is installed with an air flow control systems which regulates temperature in the warmer months reducing the need for opening the double glazed windows."
• 6.13 With the above in mind the property already has a certain amount of sound suppression and any potential noise would likely blend into the background noise already existing within this area of Onchan and should not be so adverse or unreasonable as to significantly detriment general living conditions of the immediate neighbours It should be noted that there have been no comments received from the neighbouring properties whether to support or object against the application. HIGHWAY IMPLICATIONS
• 6.14 The site itself when looking at parking only has two spaces to the rear of the property which are accessed via a rear lane of which the applicant has stated that with regards to the parking "public will be directed to park at community centre or village walk car parks. For fairs, vendors will be given staggered time slots to set up, including evening prior, unloading from the parking spots at rear of building and then parking at the aforementioned car parks." It can be taken from this that whilst they have only mentioned fairs that the same basis would be used for the indoor car boot, pop up auctions and art exhibits.
• 6.15 A request for a parking survey and more details on the parking provisions was requested but no additional information was received regarding this from the applicant whilst they did reiterate the above.
• 6.16 Parking within an area such as this can go either way, it should be noted that the property was once a place of Worship, though the likelihood of the congregation travelling to a church would have been small. With regards to the previous use of the property as an office, no specification on how many people was employed or visiting the office, as such there is no idea on how the office managed their parking. The previous use of a Performing Arts Studio was only open from 6pm to 8pm during Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10am to 9pm Thursday and 9am to 4pm Saturday with 10am to 4pm Sunday.
• 6.17 Most of the above opening times would be during the afternoon when the closest car parks and surrounding areas would have a low level of cars due to the commercial areas surrounding them being closed, this is not necessarily the case with the proposed times of operation with this application which would equate to 9am - 9pm Monday to Friday and 8am 6pm Saturday and Sunday.
• 6.18 When looking at the overall space and how many car parking spaces would be afforded to the change of use, the property is sized at around 135sq m which would require an average of 9 car parking spaces, whilst it is noted that the proposed uses would require more than this, this is what the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, Appendix 7 suggests for parking of 1 space per 15sqm of floor space.
• 6.19 The spaces given with the site is two car parking spaces to the rear, which leaves 7 car parking spaces which are not on the site. At this point it should be noted that for the previous change of use from office space to performing arts studio, which had opening times which was

• less than this and for specific classes not a range of pop up events which have an unknown amount of visitors to the site, Highway Services opposed due to the lack of parking and that the proposal "would result in pick-up/drop-off movements that would unlikely to be accommodated legally on the public highway without causing an adverse impact on highway safety, movement and free flow of traffic," and subsequently do not oppose this application.
• 6.20 It should also be noted that Onchan Commissioners recommended approval for the previously approved applications, though they did note that they had traffic concerns whilst in this application they have opposed on traffic grounds.
• 6.21 The potential traffic caused by the pop up events could be substantially more than a performing arts studio and an office, especially when looking at the events of indoor car boot sales etc. due to the number of vehicles coming and going during the day. The applicants have stated that they will be giving clients a time period to drop off items within the rear car parking spaces during the days prior to an event so that they would not be parking on the double yellow lines to the side.
• 6.22 It should be noted that Appendix 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 gives situations where the parking standards can be relaxed. When looking at the property in question it would meet two of these criteria's, firstly "(a) would secure the re-use of a Registered Building or a building of architectural or historic interest," whilst the property is not registered or within the Conservation Area to have the building used and not siting dormant would be an advantage to Onchan as a whole especially as it is noted from the representation of 30 Thorny Road that the property is no longer being used as a Performing Arts Studio.
• 6.23 The second part that the property would meet is "(d) is within a reasonable distance of an existing or proposed bus route and it can be demonstrated a reduced level of parking will not result in unacceptable on street parking in the locality." To the south west of the property there is a bus stop approximately 85 meters away which would only take a couple of minutes to walk.
• 6.24 Whilst it is noted that Onchan Commissioners have objected on the grounds of there being insufficient car parking, there are enough car parking provisions surrounding the property with a car park within the Village Walk centre, the local Commissioners Office outside of working hours and if needed the on street parking provisions along Church Avenue and the surrounding areas.

CONCLUSION

7.1 Whilst it is noted that there is not sufficient car parking on the site, the property complies with Appendix 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and with the uses not proposing an impact on the neighbouring amenity the proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and therefore acceptable. INTERESTED 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 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: 16.11.2020

Signed : C BALMER 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

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.

Planning Committee Decision 16.11.2020

Application No. : 20/00446/C Applicant : Miss Deborah Fisher Proposal : Additional use of Performing Arts Studio (class 4.4) as a Community facility (class 4.3) Site Address : The Chapel Nursery Avenue / Main Road Onchan Isle Of Man IM3 4HG

Planning Officer : Mrs Vanessa Porter Presenting Officer Mr C Balmer

Addendum to the Officer’s Report

The Committee unanimously accepted the recommendation of the case officer and the application was approved subject to the following condition being altered too:

C 3. No customers shall be onsite outside the following times: 0900 and 2100 hours on weekdays (Monday to Friday); 0800 and 2100 hours on Saturday); 0930 and 2100 hours on Sunday Reason: In order to maintain the amenities of the area and in line with those hours set out in the application form.