Officer Report

Application No.: 17/00876/B Applicant: Shirley Olive Smith Proposal: Replacement of existing roof tiles with spanish slate Site Address: 21 Christian Street Peel Isle of Man IM5 1NW Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Photo Taken: 07.09.2017 Site Visit: 07.09.2017 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 19.09.2017 _________________________________________________________________

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 14 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No2) Order 2013 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

Plans/Drawings/Information:

The development hereby approved relates to the Location Plan, Quotation Sheet and three photographs, all date-stamped as having been received 14th August 2017.

_______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

None. _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of 21 Christian Street, Peel, which is a mid-terraced dwelling of traditional two-storey form. It is, uniquely in the street, finished with rosemary roof tiles. Others in the area have asbestos or concrete interlocking tiles, while the narrowness of Christian Street is such that views of the roofs are not easily achievable.

1.2 In addition to the varied roof tiles, the dwellings are of very varied appearance, size, mass and position on the highway. The site is within Peel's Conservation Area.

2.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION - 2.1 Full planning approval is sought for the replacement of the roof tiles with Spanish slate. New ridge tiles would also be installed. The slate style is stated as being 'Cupa R12', which style has a natural finish.

3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 Although the dwelling has been the subject of previous applications, none of these is considered material to the assessment of the current application. - 3.2 There has been another application seeking approval for re-roofing on Christian Street, but not for some time - PA 97/01709/B.

4.0 THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN - 4.1 The site falls within an area zoned as Mixed Use on the Peel Local Plan; the application falls to be considered against Environment Policies 34 and 35, and also General Policy 2, all of the Strategic Plan.

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Highway Services of the DoI stated the proposal had no highway implications on 7th September 2017.

6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 This is an unusual proposal. The existing roof tiles, rosemary, are traditional for parts of Douglas and elsewhere on the Island, but are rarely found in Peel, where slate is more common. However, their uniqueness may be viewed as being reason enough to retain them within a very varied streetscene. - 6.2 The loss of the rosemary tiles would, from the point of view of providing an interesting, varied and attractive streetscene, clearly be lamented. They are not necessarily architecturally or historically accurate, but they are nevertheless clearly a characteristic feature of the streetscene. - 6.3 In this case, though, strong material weight is given to the fact that the proposed new roofing material would be natural slate. While the loss of an idiosyncrasy would be unfortunate, it is to be strongly welcomed that the replacement material would be natural in finish, appropriate to this historic part of Peel's Conservation Area, and would therefore preserve the Conservation Area. Were the existing roof tiles of almost any other finish, the natural slate could well be judged as an enhancement to the Conservation Area. - 6.4 It is also to be noted that the roof is at such an angle that the tiles are not particularly visible from the street, while it is further noted that the three dwellings in this short terrace all have different roof tiles to one another. The continuation of this difference via the development proposed is therefore judged to be acceptable in this context.

7.0 RECOMMENDATION - 7.1 The application is, therefore, recommended for approval but in what is a balanced conclusion.

8.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013 Article 6(4), the following persons are automatically interested persons:

• (a) The applicant, or if there is one, the applicant's agent;

• (b) The owner and the occupier of any land that is the subject of the application or any other person in whose interest the land becomes vested;
• (c) Any Government Department that has made written submissions relating to planning considerations with respect to the application that the Department considers material;
• (d) Highway Services Division of Department of Infrastructure, and
• (e) The local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated.

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 in Article 6(4) who should be given Interested Person Status.

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: 21.09.2017 Determining officer

Signed : S CORLETT Sarah Corlett Senior Planning Officer

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