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Application No.: 16/00576/A Applicant: Mr David Hathersich-Jones Proposal: Approval in principle for the erection of a four storey apartment block Site Address: 21 - 22 West Quay Ramsey Isle Of Man Case Officer : Miss Abigail Morgan Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation
1.0 APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The site is a vacant parcel of land between the Farmers' Combine building and Collins Lane which sits on the southern side of the quay in Ramsey between East and Christian Streets. The building has a frontage to the quay of around 15m and extends back to abut the boundaries of properties which front onto Parliament Street.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 The application is an approval in principle, with all matters reserved, for the erection of a 4 storey apartment block with 6 2/3 bedroom apartments on the first to third floors and 12 car parking spaces on the ground floor.Proposed is the removal of the existing timber and felt covered roof over the lower warehouse element to the rear and replacing with twin steel plate insulated roof on steel trusses with a number of rooflights. - 2.2 Some plans have been submitted with the application, dated 1989, these were the approved plans under an application submitted in 2004. Given that the application is for an approval in principle these have not been referred to in the assessment and are considered to be for illustrative/indicative purposes only. - 2.3 As part of the consultation process the submitted indicative plans show 9 spaces, which Highways considered that the parking spaces shown would be undersized in terms of current parking space standards and on the indicative layout would only provide 7 spaces. Consequently the agent was requested to submit a justification for applying a reduced parking standard. This was accepted.
3.0 PLANNING STATUS AND POLICY - 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Ramsey Local Plan of 1999 as "Town Centre" and just outside Ramsey's Conservation Area. Policy R/TC/P6 West Quay states the West Quay area is allocated for mixed use, with a presumption in favour of rehabilitation and conversion (as against demolition) of the warehouse buildings. - 3.2 Under the Strategic Plan 2016 the following policies are considered relevant; - 3.3 Strategic Policy 1 states: "Development should make the best use of resources by:
3.4 Strategic Policy 2: "New development will be located primarily within our existing towns and villages, or, where appropriate, in sustainable urban extensions of these towns and villages. Development will be permitted in the countryside only in the exceptional circumstances identified in paragraph 6.3." - 3.5 Housing Policy 4: New housing will be located primarily within our existing towns and villages, or, where appropriate, in sustainable urban extensions of these towns and villages where identified in adopted Area Plans: otherwise new housing will be permitted in the countryside only in the following exceptional circumstances:
3.6 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:
3.7 Transport Policy 4: Requires new and existing highways that are to serve any new development be designed so as to be capable of accommodating the vehicle and pedestrian journeys generated by that development in a safe and appropriate manner, and in accordance with the environmental objectives of this plan.
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 4.1 The construction of six flats was previously granted under 89/0062, 94/1849 and 04/01413/B. The latter application obtained full approval for the erection of a six-unit apartment block on West Quay in Ramsey. Each proposed unit comprise of two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a combined dining and living room, with the provision of nine dedicated car parking spaces at ground level.
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 DOI Highways - initial comments; The proposed car parking does not meet the required standards. There is insufficient manoeuvring space provided; the access is too narrow for 2-way traffic flow; parking spaces should be a minimum of 2.5m x 5m with additional width required for spaces adjacent to walls; the application description states 12 spaces are provided but 9 are indicated on the plans. There is no justification for applying a lower standard than that required by the strategic plan.
The applicant is requested to provide a plan to an appropriate scale demonstrating parking provision provided to current standards or a justification for applying a reduced standard. 13.06.16.
The applicant has submitted a request to apply a reduced car parking standard and include an acceptable justification in accordance with the requirements of appendix 7 of the Strategic Plan. They do not oppose the application. 04.11.16.
5.2 Ramsey Town Commissioners have no objection in principle. 20.06.16. - 5.3 Farmers Combine queried the address as referring to no 21 West Quay which they consider to be their address. 03.06.16. The agent submitted some information to demonstrate the address which satisfied the site details for planning purposes; in any event it is clear from the location plans where the plot is and the extent of the development. The address issue is not a matter for the planning application and would need to be resolved between the parties independently of this process.
6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 It is considered that the principle of residential development has been accepted on this site for some time, the previous application was a full application with all details and was considered in design terms and impact on neighbouring properties to be acceptable. However since the last application/approval in 2004, the Strategic Plan has been adopted and is therefore now forms the starting point for the consideration of the application. - 6.2 Although the site is located on land designated as 'Town Centre', Policy TC/P6 allocates it for mixed use. The Ramsey Local Plan also recognises the important of residential uses within the town centre. - 6.3 Policies within the Strategic Plan seek to ensure re-use of land and the location of dwellings in the existing towns, therefore it is considered that the proposal complies with the policies as set out above in section 3. - 6.4 As an Approval in Principle with all matters reserved there is little to assess in terms of impact on character and appearance of the area or impact on neighbouring properties. However, the application does refer to the proposal as a 4 storey building and has provided copies of the previously approved plans as indicative only, so while they have not formed part of this assessment at that time they were considered acceptable in terms of design and impact on surrounding occupants. - 6.5 In terms of highways issues the principle of a reduction in parking spaces has been accepted by DOI Highways, however the reserved matters application would need to address the other points raised.
7.0 RECOMMENDATION 7.1 On the basis of the above the application is recommended for approval.
8.0 PARTY STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013, the following persons are automatically interested persons:
With effect from 1 June 2015, the Transfer of Planning & Building Control Functions Order 2015 amends the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 to give effect to the meaning of the word
'Department' to be the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture unless otherwise directed by that Order.
8.2 In addition to those above, article 6(3) of the Order requires the Department to decide which persons (if any) who have made representations with respect to the application, should be treated as having sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings relating to the application.
In this instance, it is recommended that the following persons have sufficient interest and should be awarded the status of an Interested Person in accordance with Government Circular 0046/13:
Reason: To comply with article 14 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No2) Order 2013.
Reason: To comply with the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure)(No2) Order 2013.
This approval relates to Location Plan and Site Plan both date stamped received 19 May 2016.
I can confirm that this decision has been made by a Senior Planning Officer in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.
Decision Made : Permitted Date: 23.11.2016 Determining officer
Signed : S CORLETT Sarah Corlett Senior Planning Officer
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