Officer Report

Application No.: 17/01040/D Applicant: Kings Park Ltd Proposal: Erection of temporary advertising hoarding Site Address: Vacant Site, East Of RL360 House Isle Of Man Business Park Douglas Isle Of Man Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Photo Taken: 01.11.2017 Site Visit: 01.11.2017 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 21.11.2017 _________________________________________________________________

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

C 1. The hoarding hereby approved shall, within 7 days of the completion of the approved building on the site, be permanently removed from the site, and in any event the hoarding hereby approved shall be removed no later than 31st December 2018.

Reason: The application has been judged acceptable only on the basis of its temporary nature, which appears to be only for a matter of months.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

The Express Consent hereby issued relates to Drawing 07, date-stamped as having been received 29th September 2017. _______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons None. _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site is an irregularly shaped parcel of land that relates identically to the under construction Cycle360 business headquarters on the Isle of Man Business Park. Cycle360 is a concept that combines bespoke cycle manufacture, fitness, meeting rooms, and a café. The ground has recently been broken on the development.

2.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION - 2.1 Retrospective Express Consent is sought for the erection of advertisement hoardings around the highway-fronting sides of the site. The Consent sought is temporary for the period of construction. It is not known how long this will be, but the company website indicates that the business will be opening early in 2018. - 2.2 The hoarding runs for roughly 160m in a single, continuous line broken only by the construction site access gates. The hoarding is formed of Heras fencing at 2.4m in height, covered in printed debris netting onto which is printed the company logo and some associated text. - 2.3 The logo is almost circular, depicting in black and white an ideogrammatic mountain with the words 'Cycle' and 'numbers '360' below. Also printed on the netting are the company website, the words 'CYCLE', 'FITNESS' and 'CAFÉ', as well as 'GET READY WE'RE COMING SOON'. Below all of this are ideogrammatic mountains, coloured orange, red, black and grey. The remainder of the netting is coloured white. - 2.4 The signage would not be illuminated.

3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 As noted, the building currently under construction was approved under PA 16/00938/B. The pre-commencement conditions for that approval have recently been discharged.

4.0 THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN - 4.1 The zoning applying to the site in the Braddan Local Plan is lengthy and reflects the wider Business Park that has been created. While the development approved does not sit within that definition, the advertising for which Consent is sought does reflect the approved use of the site. Therefore, it is appropriate to assess the application against General Policy 6 of the Strategic Plan. While this policy does refer to the control of advertisements within the Island's towns and villages, the alternative policy for assessing the application against would be GP8, which refers to 'rural areas', which certainly could not be considered to apply in this case. It is worth noting the wording of GP6 here:

"Within our towns and villages, the display of external advertisements will be permitted on the site or building to which they relate provided they:

• (a) are of a high standard of design and materials and relate well to the building and site on which they are to be displayed;
• (b) are in keeping with and do not detract from the surrounding area; and
• (c) are located so as not to cause a highway safety hazard."

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Highway Services of the DoI offered no objection on 19th October 2017, noting that the hoarding has been positioned to ensure visibility splays have been maintained. - 5.2 Braddan Parish Commissioners offered no objection to the application in an email on 12th October 2017.

6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 If the application is judged to comply with the three parts of General Policy 6, Express Consent should not be withheld. - 6.2 The advertisements are not judged to be of a particularly high quality material finish, but are judged to be appropriate for what is essentially a building site. The retention of dust and debris within the site is clearly good building practice, and it is understandable that the

• applicant should wish to take the opportunity to temporarily advertise the nascent business. The design, however, is judged to be of a high standard of design through its simple use of text and materials (the grammatical error notwithstanding).
• 6.3 However, the repetition of this design across such a significant length of highway is more difficult to judge as being in keeping with and not a detraction from the surrounding area. It would have been preferable if there had been a blank hoarding in-between each advertisement hoarding so as to break up the visual impact. However, it is to be remembered that the hoarding is only temporary. Were it permanent, its extensive nature would likely be sufficient to warrant the application's refusal. It is also true that many people expect advertising and / or hoardings such as this to be present during construction works such that its temporary nature is important and intrinsic to the conclusion that it is acceptable.
• 6.4 Finally, Highway Services are content that the necessary visibility splays will be protected under the proposal.

7.0 RECOMMENDATION - 7.1 In view of the above, it is recommended that Express Consent be issued. - 7.2 A condition requiring the hoarding be removed once the building is complete is necessary, even if it is likely the hoarding will be removed at roughly (or even before) that time in any case.

8.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2013 Regulation 11(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) Persons to whom notice has been given under Regulation 10(3)(a)(i);
• (d) Any Government Department that has made written submissions relating to planning considerations with respect to the application that the Department considers material;
• (e) The Highways Division of the Department of Infrastructure;
• (f) The Ports Division of the Department of Infrastructure;
• (g) The operator of the railway or tramway, and
• (h) 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 Regulation 11(3) who should be given Interested Person Status.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 23.11.2017 Determining officer

Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management

Customer note

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