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Application No.: 16/01265/B Applicant: Anglo Manx Trust Company Proposal: Alterations, roof amendments, and erection of a three storey rear extension Site Address: 5 Athol Street Douglas Isle Of Man IM1 1QL Case Officer : Miss Abigail Morgan Photo Taken: 10.01.2017 Site Visit: 10.01.2017 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee
THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE DUE TO THE PLANNING HISTORY OF THE SITE
1.0 SITE - 1.1 The application site is Number 5 Athol Street, which is located on south eastern side of Athol Street. The building is currently 4 storey. The application site is located within the Athol Street / Victoria Street Conservation Area. The site is zoned as predominantly offices within the Douglas Local Plan 1998. - 1.2 The existing building is a symmetrical Victorian building mid terrace with an ordered façade of triple arched windows at first floor, triple flat headed windows at second floor and a pediment dormer in the attic space. - 1.3 To the rear of the property is an existing pitched roof extension which is two storeys due to the differences in grounds levels. The building forms part of a block structure with properties along Athol Street, Church Street, Nelson Street and Prospect Hill. Access to the parking yard within the block is from Nelson Street.
2.0 PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT - 2.1 The application is seeking permission for alterations, roof amendments and erection of a three storey rear extension to provide additional office space, with some internal changes to accommodate a lift. - 2.2 The roof amendments are to the existing pitched roof rear extension, changing it from a dual pitch to flat roof with an extension and a terrace, with a slight pitch in the north east elevation accommodating 3 roof lights to the office below. - 2.3 The proposed extension is triangular in shape and is the full width of the building 7.3m x 6.5m (at its deepest) x 1.8m (at its shallowest on north east elevation) x 4.3m (on south west elevation), with overall height of 11.5m from the lowest point of the existing pitched roof to its lowest point (taken from north east elevation). The overall height was reduced as per amended plan 08A, which is the lower height of the two previously submitted schemes. These additions facilitate the creation of additional office space and a lift shaft.
2.4 Also included is the insertion of 3 x roof lights (apx 800mm x 800mm) in this newly pitched roof to light the proposed mezzanine office space in north east elevation. To the south western elevation where the pitched roof becomes part of the extension there are 6 news windows, looking into the parking courtyard (800mm x 800mm) and an area of glass blocks (apx 3.2m x 0.8m) to the newly formed staff room at basement level. - 2.5 The three storey rear extension itself is sat onto the proposed flat roof, making the building 16.2m high from within the courtyard. Constructed of SAPA framing curtain wall glazing system on the corners and white or cream panel system on each of the elevations, with grey aluminium windows and doors and the raised walls will be cream render to match the existing. - 2.6 The application has been submitted to address the reasons for refusal on PA15/01229/B, which was refused on appeal. It is hybrid scheme between the refused and the approved schemes.
3.0 PLANNING STATUS AND RELEVANT POLICIES - 3.1 Within the adopted Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, the following policies are considered to be relevant in the determination of this application: General Policy 2, Environment Policy 35, Business Policies 7 and 8, and Transport 7. - 3.2 Environment Policy 35 states that "Within Conservation Areas, the Department will permit only development which would preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the area, and will ensure that the special features contributing to the character and quality are protected against inappropriate development." - 3.3 Business Policy 7 states that "New office floor space should be located with town and village centres on land which is zoned for the purpose on the appropriate area plan; exceptionally, permission may be given for new office space
3.4 Business Policy 8 states that "New office building should, in terms of height and mass, respect the scale and character of adjoining and nearby buildings and should accommodate parking space in accordance with the standards specified in Appendix 7 of the Plan." - 3.5 Transport Policy 7 states that "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards." - 3.6 Section 18 (4) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 states that "Where any area is for the time being a conservation area, special attention shall be paid to the desirability of preserving or enhancing it character or appearance in the exercise, with respect to any buildings or other land in the area, of any powers under this Act." - 3.7 General Policy 2: Development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and proposals in the appropriate Area Plan and with other policies of this Strategic Plan will normally be permitted, provided that the development:
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 4.1 There are four recent planning applications which are considered relevant to the consideration of this application;
4.2 At paragraph 35 of the Inspector's Report the Inspector considered that the extension would not preserve or enhance the character of the Conservation and judged that it would have a deleterious effect on the working conditions of the occupants of neighbouring buildings. - 4.3 There were two applications considered in 2015 both of which went to appeal and were considered concurrently;
4.4 The Inspector identified two main issues; firstly whether the scheme would preserve or enhance the character or appearance of Athol Street/Victoria Street Conservation Area; and secondly the impact of both schemes on the working conditions in adjoining buildings. - 4.5 On the first issue, while the Inspector considered that neither scheme would enhance the Conservation Area, the smaller scheme (15/01089) was considered to preserve the Conservation Area, whereas the larger scheme (15/1229) due its much larger size would fail to preserve the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. (paras 33 and 35 of Inspectors Report). - 4.6 On the second issue the main concern related to the overbearing effect the larger scheme would have in No 7s rear rooms. The Inspector considered that the triangular extensions 3 storey height, its 2m proximity to no 7's rear windows would, in his mind, make working conditions in no 7's rear rooms unacceptably claustrophobic, with all views easterly blocked off (para 40 of Inspectors
Report). While the smaller scheme was found to not unacceptably worsen the working conditions of adjoining buildings (para 38 of Inspectors Report).
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 DOI Highways Division - No Highways implications - The proposal will not impact the current car parking provision but will improve the access to the car park from the building. 09/12/16. - 5.2 Douglas Corporation - No comments were received at the time of writing. - 5.3 No other representations were received at the time of writing.
6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The main issues in the consideration of this proposal are;
6.2 The area is zoned as predominantly offices in the Douglas Local Plan. It is considered the principle of providing an extension for office use to be acceptable in this locality. - 6.3 This proposal has been submitted to address the reasons for refusal under PA15/1229/B (the larger scheme), as set out above at paragraph 4.3 and increase the provision of office over that which was approved under PA15/1089/B. - 6.4 The starting point is the previously approved scheme. The site has permission for the change to pitched roof of existing 2-storey rear extension so that part of it becomes a flat roof, creation of additional office space at mezzanine level and erection of a 3 storey tower (4.5m x 4m x 9.5m) on the rear extensions new flat roof. Impact on Conservation Area - 6.5 Any development within a Conservation Area should preserve or enhance its character. It is generally accepted that any proposal does not have to be widely visible for this assessment requirement to be applied. It is acknowledged that little of the extension would be viewed from the public realm, other than through a gap in buildings adjacent to no 1 Prospect Hill. In 2015 planning permission was given for a three storey extension which would be in this gap. However, the proposed extension would be viewed by workers in offices overlooking the rear courtyards. The Inspector considered that the smaller scheme (15/01089) would preserve the Conservation Area, whereas the larger scheme (15/1229) due its much larger size would fail to preserve the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. - 6.6 The lift shaft element has been reduced from that which was approved under 15/01089 12.2m, to that of the other application 15/01229 - 11.5m, and the triangular part has been reduced in bulk, albeit mostly due to the efforts to minimise the effect on the working conditions of no 7 Athol Street. Nevertheless it has resulted in the deepest part of the building being reduced by 1.2m. These coupled with the removal of the south west corner of the building and the terraces and associated hand rails have had the effect of reducing the visual appearance and bulk of the proposal. - 6.7 While it is accepted that the proposal will not enhance the conservation area due to the proposed materials and design not tying in with the Victorian building to which it is attached, it is considered that the proposal has been reduced sufficiently to preserve the character and
appearance of the conservation area and would comply with the requirements of Environment Policy 35.
Impact On Neighbouring Properties
6.8 Although offices are not generally afforded the same level of protection as dwellings they are places that people occupy for the majority of the day and where occupants have a reasonable expectation of receiving daylight. While there is no right to a view or a pleasant open outlook, the view can contribute to good working conditions. The Inspector considered that daylight and a reasonably unobstructed outlook are important to working conditions. - 6.9 The main concern of the previous schemes was the impact on occupiers of no 7 Athol Street, which is set to the west of the application property. This scheme has reduced the size of elevation nearest to no 7, to that of the approved smaller scheme (15/01089), to apx 4.3m, which the Inspector concluded 'would not adversely impact on working conditions in no 7'. The applicant has discussed this with the owner of no 7 which has also resulted in addition of obscure or smoked glazing on the south west elevation in the windows to the two offices nearest the proposal. - 6.10 It is therefore considered that these changes address the points raised by the Inspector and the proposal would not have a materially adverse impact on working conditions of either no's 4 or 7 Athol Street. CONCLUSION - 6.11 The majority of the report deals with the tower element of the proposal. With regards to the change to pitched roof of existing 2-storey rear extension so that part of it becomes a flat roof and the creation of additional office space at mezzanine level, this element was considered acceptable and was approved and this position has not changed. - 6.12 Overall it is considered that the proposal, while large, balances the issues raised by the Inspector in their consideration of 15/01089/B and 15/01229/B with the needs of the applicant to such a degree that the proposal falls within the bounds of acceptability.
8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013, the following persons are automatically interested persons:
Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture Fisheries are part of the same Department as is the planning authority and as such should not be afforded interested person status under the Order.
With effect from 1 June 2015, the Transfer of Planning & Building Control Functions Order 2015 amends the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 to give effect to the meaning of the word
'Department' to be the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture unless otherwise directed by that Order. Recommendation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 16.01.2017 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.
This approval relates to drawing numbers 15/2488/02, 07, and 09 all date stamped as received 10 November 2016 and 08A date stamped received 10 January 2017.
I confirm that this decision has been made by the Planning Committee in accordance with the authority afforded to it under the appropriate delegated authority.
Decision Made : Permitted Committee Meeting Date: 23.01.2017
Signed : A MORGAN Presenting Officer
Further to the decision of the Committee an additional report/condition reason was required (included as supplemental paragraph to the officer report).
Signatory to delete as appropriate YES/NO See below
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