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The application site comprises of an existing, extended chapel situated on the northeastern side of Croit-e-Caley Road on the outskirts of Colby. The building comprises of a traditional modest chapel built in the late 1800's which has a small lean-to extension to the front which forms a Vestry and a larger pitched roof extension to the side which comprises of a Church Hall, Kitchen, Toilet and storage facilities. A further flat roof extension has been added to the gable of the Church Hall building which was originally believed to be male toilets however has since been used as a Utility / Store area.
There is a small flat roofed garage on the south-eastern end of the building which is not part of the application site and is not under the ownership of Ms Eileen Carrington. The site boundary runs between the rear corner of the garage building to the garden wall on Croit E Caley Road.
Off road parking facilities are available for a single vehicle by means of a hardstanding along the face of the Church hall extension.
Planning Approval was granted for the change of use of the chapel to a residential dwelling under PA 15/00521/C.
A full planning application was submitted for the conversion of the existing building into a three-bedroomed residential property under PA 16/00788/B and this was granted planning approval on 12th October 2016. For unknown reasons, the then applicant did not purchase the building following granting of planning permission and Ms Eilleen Carrington purchased the building earlier this year.
This planning application seeks the change of use of the Methodist chapel building into a four-bedroomed residential property. In essence, the content of this application is very similar to the proposals approved under PA 16/00788/B with a few minor alterations to the external \& internal appearance which the current applicant believes improves the visual appearance of the original building further.
The client would like to incorporate a fourth bedroom onto the Mezzanine floor (formerly approved as Snug / Study) which would become the master bedroom having a En-suite located in the roof space of the Church Hall building. It is thought this master bedroom would be a fabulous feature within the existing building and would retain the existing roof trusses as an internal feature with glazed doors looking over the dining room and kitchen space. As part of the En-suite creation then an additional rooflight would be incorporated in the North-East elevation however all the other rooflights would remain as per the original approval. This new rooflight has been lined up to be central on the window opening below and will sit vertically within the lines set by the larger rooflights adjacent.
In order to make a feature of the existing circular window in the South-East elevation, the client would like to include an additional mezzanine space within the larger bedroom on the ground floor within the former Church Hall building. This mezzanine would be for use by the bedroom occupants only and would create a lovely gallery or reading area without any visual impact externally.
The client agrees with the planning officer's comments from the 2016 application that the existing flat roof extension on the South-East Elevation is out of character for the building and is detrimental to the overall appearance. As part of this application the client proposes to demolish this flat roof extension to create additional external amenity space for the enjoyment of the converted building.
The applicant also agrees with the original planning officer's comments in relation to the creation of a new parking space in front of the existing chapel to create two off road parking spaces. Ms Carrington feels the new parking space will be detrimental to the visual appearance of existing building and will remove important external amenity space from the converted building. Ideally the applicant would like to retain the existing parking space only for the converted building but appreciates that as the proposed works involve the creation of a four-bedroom property the additional parking space may be required by Highways. Should this be the case then the client will incorporate the new parking space as previously approved under PA16/00788/B within these proposals and this has been indicated on the planning submission documents. However, the client would prefer not to create this parking space unless deemed absolutely necessary by the Highways department.
Finally, as part of the renovation works the client would like to replace the windows throughout with white UPVC double glazed, style to match the existing to the main building and as indicated on the elevation drawings to the Church Hall building. We have obtained a photograph of the original Methodist Church believed to be taken in the 1930's with a similar window style to the current building.
The external render requires making good in places and will receive two coats of masonry paint finish colour White with white masonry paint finish to the raised features around the windows.
Conclusion
We believe the current proposals do not differ significantly from the proposals approved under PA 16/00788/B and believe the proposed alterations under this planning application will have an overall improvement on the existing building and its surroundings.
Apart from the changes above it is thought this application would closely match the 2016 approval and hopefully would be supported by the Planning department and Highways department.
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