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Department of Planning
Murray House
Mount Havelock
Douglas
Isle of Man.
IM1 2SF.
2nd November 2016
Dear Sirs,
Re: Creation of New Dwelling, Site adjacent to 'Westham', Arbory Road, Castletown
Please find attached a detailed planning application for a new, two storey family dwelling for a site at West Ham, Arbory Road, Castletown.
The site is referenced as Site 9, within the Area Plan for the South (2012) and is allocated for residential development for a single dwelling, for which permission has previously been granted on 3 occasions.
The site is accessed, via a private drive (part shared) from the Arbory Road, into the southern corner of the site. The site, which has not previously been built upon, is almost square on plan and has an area of approximately 0.34 ha. The boundaries of the site are marked by many large mature trees.
The centre of the site is clear of trees and vegetation and is generally flat in topography.
The design and siting of the house has been determined by the existing site conditions, in particular:
Hartford Homes | Middle River | Douglas | Isle of Man | British Isles | IM2 3AL
Directors | A.S. Greenhalgh | J.S. Greenhalgh | N.A. Greenhalgh | Inc. in the Isle of Man No. 061 408C | VAT No. GB 001 0743 45
The house is of a fairly traditional design over two floors, with pitch roofs. The house will have a total floor area of approximately 6,000sqft (this is significantly smaller than the two previous approvals which had floor areas of approximately 9000 sqft and then 11,000sqft. This current proposal is therefore significantly smaller than what has previously been deemed acceptable.
The external walls of the house will be finished in a combination of stone (slate), contrasting feature stone detailing and painted render. The pitched roofs will be in artificial slate.
Large timber framing detail will be used around some glazed elements to provide a contemporary yet natural feel to the overall design.
Large windows have been used to maximise internal daylight levels. The site creates no overlooking issues due it its private borders and the nearest property is approximately 23m away.
The external layout will generally be as shown on the application drawings. Driveways and forecourts will be in block paviours, utilising complementary border colours to add interest.
A small group of trees, located nearer the centre of the site, have been removed, as approved by planning approval PA09/01217/B. These were multi stemmed self-seeded Sycamores of poor form and were suppressing the growth of the mature trees which surround them. A Horse Chestnut tree (T22) (previously granted permission for removal) has also been removed due to concerns of its stability after being damaged by lighting.
The existing large mature trees to the sites perimeter will all be retained and during construction, the area beneath the canopy of the trees will be fenced off to prevent access by vehicles and the storage of materials, to avoid compacting of the ground.
The common driveway serving the existing property, Westham, and our site, was 'stoned up' nearly 20 years ago during the laying of underground services, all the way from the Arbory Road, into our site. The section of dedicated drive serving just the proposed site, was also formed in the same way. The full extent of the shared and dedicated driveways are almost completely under tree canopies and this appears not to have affected their growth.
Manx Roots Tree Management have been appointed to advise on the protection of the existing tress. They will advise on building in close proximity to trees and measures that will need to be taken to protect tree roots, in particular the formation of the new driveway, part of which is under existing tree canopy.
Manx Roots have provided an initial assessment of the site and our proposals, please see their email dated 24th October 2016. They will carry out a detailed tree survey from which they will produce a 'roots protection drawing' which will be adopted during the works on site.
In areas advised necessary by Manx Roots, we anticipate using a form of 'no dig construction' using products like 'Cell Web', or similar, with a permeable finish on top, to protect the health of existing trees.
The site boundaries are to be reinforced with additional tree and hedge planting to provide increased mutually privacy between the proposed dwelling and existing properties.
PA08/01079/B granted planning approval for a house of traditional design. PA09/01217/B granted planning approval for amendments to the previous design and had a floor area of approximately 9,000sqft. PA12/00883/B granted planning permission for a house of contemporary design, with a floor area of approximately 11,000sqft.
In summary, we believe the current proposal for the design of the house is less "challenging" than the previous approved design and significantly, the proposed house is much smaller and sits more comfortably on the site. The proposals are in accordance with the Development Brief contained in the Area Plan for the South and planning policy. Once completed, it will be difficult to see the property given it is contained within mature boundaries as the majority of the trees are to be retained as they define the character of the site, as well as provide mutual privacy with adjoining properties.
We trust that we have provided sufficient information for this application to be determined but should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our offices.
Yours faithfully
George Li
For and on behalf of Hartford Ltd.
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