Officer Report

Application No.: 17/01093/B Applicant: Mr Francis Johnson Proposal: Replacement enlarged balcony, widening of existing driveway, installation of sun tube and associated works Site Address: Laburnum Cottage Main Road Glen Vine Isle Of Man IM4 4AU Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Photo Taken: 15.11.2017 Site Visit: 15.11.2017 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 22.11.2017 _________________________________________________________________

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 Drawings 01, 02 and 03, all date-stamped as having been received 16th October 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 a detached, split-level dwelling situated on the south of the TT course and which is the easternmost dwelling of the established village of Glen Vine. Laburnum Cottage presents as a bungalow to the highway but

• has a basement level below. The dwelling is well-screened from the highway owing to a significant level of vegetation along its southeastern boundary, although from further to the south during winter months the dwelling is more visible through leafless trees. The dwelling overlooks an open field outwith the control of the applicant to the south / southwest.
• 1.2 There is a terrace to the southeastern elevation, but this is probably too small for more than one person to use at any one time.
• 1.3 The access and highway is narrow and visibility severely restricted, especially to the southeast: a three-point turn is possible when one car is within the curtilage but not when two are parked here.

2.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION - 2.1 Full planning approval is sought for three separate elements of development as part of a renovation of the property. - 2.2 Firstly, the existing balcony is proposed to be removed and replaced with a much larger balcony that would essentially fill the curtilage of the dwelling to the southern and southeastern area. This would be bound with frameless and obscured glazing 1800mm in height. This would be visible along the southeastern, southwestern and northwestern elevations. The terrace is proposed to be formed of larch paneling. An existing fir tree would be removed to make way for this. - 2.3 Also proposed is a widening of the existing highway access and driveway by a consistent 1m to a northwestern direction. - 2.4 Finally, two of the dwelling's round windows are proposed to be infilled with masonry and finished with render to match the existing walling.

3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 The site has not been the subject of previous planning applications judged to be of material relevance.

4.0 THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN - 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as Residential on the 1982 Development Plan. - 4.2 Accordingly, the application falls to be assessed against the relevant parts of General Policy 2 and also against Paragraph 8.12.1 of the Strategic Plan.

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Highway Services offered no objection to the application in comments made 8th November 2017. They noted that the increased driveway width would require a Section 109A agreement under the Highways Act. - 5.2 Marown Parish Commissioners offered no objection to the application in a letter dated 17th November 2017.

6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The key issues here are the design effect the alterations proposed will have on the dwelling and the surrounding streetscape and in respect of neighbouring living conditions, as well as the impact on highway safety. - 6.2 In terms of the latter issue, the existing access provides very limited visibility to the southeast owing to the vegetation here. Owing to the constrained nature of the driveway, it is conceivable that drivers will need to occasionally reverse onto the highway, which given the essentially blind nature of visibility to the southeast is very dangerous. Any improvement to

• this is therefore to be strongly welcomed - and, in view of the retention of much of the remaining front garden and the lack of any serious visual impact the slight removal would have on visual amenity, this element of the application is judged to comply with parts (h) and (i) of GP2.
• 6.3 The removal of the fir tree and existing balcony are not considered harmful. The existing tree is a multi-stemmed specimen and there is plenty of other vegetation here to soften the dwelling's appearance. The existing balcony is very tired in appearance. While the new balcony is significantly larger, it is judged an improvement over the existing situation by bringing a contemporary aesthetic to the dwelling. It cannot be ignored that it is significant in scale relative to the existing balcony and also to the dwelling itself, but it is not obtrusive and even were it more prominent it is not an inappropriate addition to the rear and side of this dwelling.
• 6.4 There is also an impact to be assessed in terms of neighbouring living conditions. The new balcony would be larger and thereby enable higher views of the neighbouring dwelling ('Mabuhay') to the northwest. However, the boundary between the two dwellings is, at the rear, 1.5m in depth (between the rear of the dwelling and the edge of its curtilage), while the proposed terrace would have a balustrade 1800mm in height that would be finished with obscured glass. This would, it is considered, strike the appropriate balance between protecting privacy and preventing an overbearing impact - obscure glazing will prevent direct views (such as these could be achieved in any case, given the shallow nature of the rear of the curtilage), and will also be light enough to prevent an overbearing impact.
• 6.5 The window alterations are not considered to have a material effect on the dwelling's appearance. While the loss of the unusual circular windows may be lamented by some people, the dwelling's design is not judged to be of any particular architectural merit such that it requires protection in its current appearance.

7.0 CONCLUSION - 7.1 It is concluded that the development proposed is acceptable when assessed against the relevant policies of the Development Plan.

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 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

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