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Miss Sarah Corlett Senior Planning Officer, Planning and Building Control Directorate, Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, Murray House, Mount Havelock, Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 2SF
Dear Sarah
RE: PA 15/00775/A - Residential Development in Crosby Further to your email of 29th October 2015 please see below:
The area indicated on the 1982 Development Plan is at a scale of 1:25000. We have an original copy of this plan in our office which we attempted to scale. However the line thicknesses are approximately 10 m wide and the line of the stream bears little resemblance to the survey we have carried out or the Ordnance Survey plan on the area indicated as zoned for residential development.
The initial plan layout we prepared as part of the pre consultation with the Planning Department, showed a much greater area as part of the proposals. You therefore kindly enlarged the 1982 Development Plan and indicated in an email to me dated 9th June 2014 of which the text below is an extract and indicated the size of the designated site: "Thank you for the information about the proposed development at Crosby. The land is indeed designated as Proposed Predominantly Residential Use on the Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Development Plan) Order 1982 and would in principle for that reason be a suitable site for the location of a shop, as well as any residential development. The exact area which is designated for development though, is difficult to determine due to the scale of the 1982 Order. However, I have copied and enlarged the Order and compared it with a modern map of approximately the same scale and have concluded that the area designated as Proposed Predominantly Residential use equates to an area which has a roadside frontage of around 105 m and a depth towards the south of 132 m . This includes land which is designated as POS but the actual POS is less wide. "
ASSOCIATES
Architects \& Interior Designers
Yorkshire \& 12 Strathallan Crescent Douglas Isle of Man IM2 4NR
Tel: 01624618672 Fax: 01624620798 F2 [email protected] W: mpassociates.co.uk Mark Pearce BA (Hons), Dip(Arch) RIBA- Managing Director, Pritpal Matharu
MP Associates Limited. Registered in Isle of Man No. 90132C VAT No. 001492813
We met to discuss the proposals and whilst we disagreed a little on these dimensions, your comments were that the line thicknesses were 10 m wide and therefore there was some leeway with these dimensions of up to 10 m .
I took these dimensions to be the width and depth of the site aligned with the stream.
During the pre consultation period you were supplied with plans of the proposals and made various comments which we responded to with amendments to the scheme. One of these comments related to Manx Sod Banks to the boundaries and softening the edges of the development by not having a straight boundary lined with a fence. This changed the North West Boundary to its present form which is not straight deliberately.
The frontage of the site is 105 m with a depth of 142 m . The width of the South Western Boundary is approximately 102 m . The South Western Boundary is not straight to help soften the edge to the development as above. The boundary to the residential development is the Manx Sod bank with some landscaping being undertaken to the agricultural side of the boundary.
The Bus lay-by to Peel Road was a later addition to the scheme and necessitated losing ground to the frontage of the site; however as we had some leeway with the overall measurements advised the development was expanded by approximately 5 metres to the South West to allow for new footpaths and the lay-by. We did not want to reduce the area of Public Open Space to the frontage with Peel Road which was an option particularly as the parking could be reduced in this area which would increase the public open space even further.
It was also a perception by ourselves that Old Church Road gets busy at certain times such as on a Sunday morning and therefore additional parking was included adjacent the retail space to allow for vehicles overflowing from Old Church Road during events or functions.
The Commercial space proposed is intended to be a small parade of shops. Each shop of 100 sq m would have a sales area of approximately 70 to 80 sq m . This is a modest retail unit. A convenience store may take two of these units.
We have several expressions of interest with regard to these units, and there have been many letters of support for this facility from local residents. The detailed design of this area will serve to clarify the proposals at the reserved matters stage.
Architects \& Interior Designers
Yorkshire \& 12 Strathallan Crescent Douglas Isle of Man IM2 4NR
Tel: 01624618672 Fax: 01624620798 Fax: [email protected] W: mpassociates.co.uk Mark Pearce BA (Hons), Dip(Airch) RIBA Managing Director, Pritpal Matharu Company Secretary MP Associates Limited. Registered in Isle of Man No. 90132C VAT No. 001492813
We have provided a Transport Statement prepared by a Traffic Consultant to deal with this matter in addition to the Highway Departments comments who are not objecting to the proposals.
The line of trees to Peel Road which are indicated to be removed, are to be replaced with semi mature trees which will be similar in height to the existing. The red line on the plan encompasses additional landscaping to the boundaries to further soften the boundary line and enhance the appearance.
A landscape layout will be provided at the reserve matters stage.
We have submitted a lighting statement and a BAT report in this respect.
The public open space to the front of the site is an attempt to focus the centre of the Village on a "Village Green" and make the parade of shops a focal point.
The stream is an important feature which we have highlighted by creating a walkway from Peel Road linking this with the Old Railway Line. By setting the development back from the stream and creating a distinct separation this will also enable us to develop the footpath into a feature of the development instead of gardens backing onto the stream.
It should be noted that the density of the development is low being seven houses to the acre. This is directly due to the allocation of public open space and creating the separation with the stream and allocating reasonable space to the dwellings.
The area of open space within the site amounts to approximately 3149 square meters plus an additional 214 sq m of landscaped area marked C on the attached plan (coloured blue). The open space calculation for 28 number 3 bedroom dwellings would require a total of 2688 square metres - 1512 square metres of formal space, which we would suggest is Area 'A' (coloured Red), 504 square metres of play space which will be Area 'B' (coloured green) in the areas that are wider than mere verges and 672 square metres of amenity space, which is the footpath and access to the stream. The adjacent Millennium Playing fields is also made accessible by the footpath. The provision of seating on the footpath verges in strategic areas will greatly enhance the area.
Associates
The front area noted A (coloured red) on the attached Appendix A indicates an area fronting Peel Road of 1461 sq m .
The footpath link noted 'B' (coloured green) on Appendix 'A', which also incorporates verges and landscape areas either side of the path equates to 1688 sq m .
The smaller area of open space noted as ' C ' (coloured blue) on appendix A is 214 sq m is additional to our calculation of 3149 sq m and we intend to landscape this area.
There are more cars than required to the retail space affronting the Public open Space and the number of parking spaces could be reduced to increase the public open space requirement if required, we do not however feel that this is necessary as taken as a whole the area provided exceeds the requirements. How this space is allocated within the above classifications of Formal Space, Play Space and Amenity Space is something that can be developed at the reserve matters stage if required.
The site is therefore well provided with open space and together with the existing space in close proximity provides the landscaped amenity areas integral to the development to meet the requirement of this policy.
The contour plan provided indicates clearly that the houses are at a significantly higher level than the playing fields and are not subject to flooding. The space separation between the stream and the development by the footpath verges and road way also provide an additional space provision between the Playing fields and the houses.
We undertook discussions at an early stage in the design process with the MUA and as we control land which gives us direct access to the River Dhoo the provision of surface water drainage was not found to be a problem. The foul water also has direct access to the treatment plant adjacent to the old railway line via land in our control. In the interim if upgrades to the plant have not been undertaken by the time the development is constructed then a Bio Disc treatment plant will be installed.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Pearce
Mark Pearce BA (Hons), Dip(Arch) RIBA- Managing Director, Pritpal Matharu Company Secretary MP Associates Limited. Registered in Isle of Man No. 90132C VAT No. 001492813
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