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Application No.: 19/00327/C Applicant: Mr David Carrion Proposal: Change of use of Unit 2 light industrial to provide personal health training Site Address: Former Gas Works Mill Road Peel Isle Of Man IM5 1AX Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Site Visit: 10.04.2019 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 29.04.2019 _________________________________________________________________
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
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 decision relates to drawing C-10-03 and the internal layout both received on 21st March, 2019. _______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons none _____________________________________________________________________________ 19/00327/C Page 1 of 6
THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE PROPOSED USE IS NOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAND USE DESIGNATION
1.1 The site is one which has recently been redeveloped from a gas works to industrial and office premises with associated parking, including a few spaces for newly built dwellings alongside the site. The site sits opposite the House of Manannan museum and its associated car park and alongside the site on the same side of the road is the food park and fishyard. Immediately adjacent to the site is a residential property which was approved as part of the redevelopment of the gasworks site - 14/00928/B. Beyond this are other residential properties either side of Station Road and East Quay marks the start of a number of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars with a few, older, industrial operations - car repairs and sales and depots. - 1.2 The site accommodates two buildings - a large modern industrial building which is subdivided internally into four units and another, smaller building which is being re-built as an office (18/00137/B). The approval plans show a mezzanine level over half of each unit. - 1.3 Four parking spaces are indicated as being available to the unit, directly outside the unit itself. THE PROPOSAL
2.1 The building was approved as one for storage and distribution (Class 6) (14/00930/B) and is nearing completion. Proposed is the change of use of one quarter of the building - unit 2 - to a gym. A current application, 19/00313/C, proposes the use of unit 1 as a laundry including a coin operated facility. Gym use does not fall within a particular Use Class within the Permitted Development Order 2013 and would be considered sui generis - a class of its own type. - 2.2 The applicant explains that their operation involves small numbers of customers being at the premises at one time - no more than 3 or 4 all handled by one member of staff. Their hours of operation will be 0630 to 1130hrs and then 1630 to 1930hrs although the precise hours will depend upon the customers' demands. - 2.3 Internally the gym facilities will be on the ground floor along with two toilets and a reception area. Upstairs in the mezzanine there will be two changing rooms and an office. PLANNING POLICY
3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Peel Local Plan as Predominantly Industrial. The planning approval for the building (14/00930/B) described the proposed development as the erection of a block of four storage/distribution units although the amount of parking exceeded the amount required for that use. - 3.2 As such, the use of the site as a gym is contrary to the land use designation but would not fall within any of the Use Classes set out in the Order. As such, there is no land specifically designated for use as a gym. - 3.3 Business Policy 5 of the Strategic Plan states that land designated for industrial use will be approved for only industrial, storage and distribution operations and in particular, retail use will not be generally acceptable unless they are of a particular nature which justifies an industrial location. Business Policy 1 encourages the growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island provided that the development complies with the other objectives of the Plan. - 3.4 Parking standards in the Strategic Plan indicate that industrial development is to have one parking space per 50 sq m gross of floorspace: storage and distribution should have one space
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per 100 sq m gross space. The unit has around 165 sq m of ground floor area and 93sq m on the mezzanine floor.
3.5 General Policy 2, whilst applicable to development which is consistent with the land use designation, sets out general standards of development which should be applied to all new proposals and requires, inter alia, that the development would not result in adverse highway safety or parking issues, the character of the area and the amenities of those in adjacent residential accommodation. Transport Policy 7 requires that adequate parking is provided and Environment Policy 22 also protects the amenities of those in existing property from environmental impacts such as pollution, emissions, vibrations, odour, noise or light pollution. - 3.6 Environment Policies 10 and 13 presume against development which would result in increased flood risk. - 3.7 Finally, the Government undertook a review of the amount of employment land available in the Island in 2015, updating it in 2017. Both reports conclude that there is no issue with the supply of employment land in the north and west, noting specifically in 2017 that "existing allocations remain sufficient to meet future demand in the South, West and North." PLANNING HISTORY
4.1 The relevant previous applications are referred to above. Concurrent approval is being sought for the use of unit 1 as a laundry including coin operated washing and drying machines open to the public (6 of each) - 19/00313/C. REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 No representations have been received at the time of writing. ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The unit is not designated for leisure use and as such the proposed use is contrary to that. However, it is not uncommon for gyms to be located within areas designated for industrial use as well as town centre locations such as Body Works in Kingswood Grove in Douglas, Body Craft Fitness in Market Square in Castletown and Carrefour in Wellington Street in Douglas. Those already located in industrial areas include Elite Fitness in Spring Valley in Braddan, Follan Natural Health Centre in Carrs Lane in Onchan, Nautilus on Peel Road in Douglas and in addition, planning approval has been granted for gyms and personal training in Balthane 10/01179/C, Kirby Farm industrial estate - 12/00964/C, The Isle of Man Business Park 16/00938/B and Riverside industrial estate in Douglas - 15/00358/C.
6.2 It is therefore considered acceptable to use the unit as a gym. As noted previously in the report, there is no land which is specifically designated for use as a gym so it is not the case that such a use could be directed to a particular type of land designation, as opposed, for example, to a residential or retail use which could be directed to land designated for such a purpose. In terms of the ELR, it is clear that there is no identified shortfall in the provision of land for employment purposes in the west so the use of this unit for a gym is not considered to result in a deficiency in employment land provision which would justify refusal of the application. In addition, the location of the site is adjacent to residential properties where industrial operations could be unneighbourly and where the proposed use is less likely to be so, through a reduction in the size of vehicles using the site, and likely reduction in the amount of vehicular movements. This is particularly relevant given the narrow width of Mill Road and the traffic light operation. - 6.3 The approved gyms throughout the Island have varying numbers of customers. Those in the town and village centres can make use of the various public car parking facilities and on street parking that is available with disc parking restrictions generally not applicable after 1800hrs or at weekends. Many of those in industrial areas have no such facilities and rely upon the parking provision originally allocated to the units.
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6.4 In some cases this is sufficient, particularly those with limited floorspace and one to one or small groups of classes. Others, such as that at Spring Valley have customers' vehicles overspilling onto the private estate road where there are no parking restrictions. - 6.5 In this case, the unit has four spaces available to it and the classes will involve one teacher and up to 4 customers at a time. Given the proximity of the facility to the town, it is possible that at least one of the customers may walk to the site and as such, the 4 parking spaces available would suffice. It is relevant that the House of Manannan car park is opposite and whilst associated with that facility, the museum operates every day between 1000 and 1700hrs. Whilst it may be considered appropriate to attach a condition which controls the use of the parking spaces, it is likely, given the land ownership of units 1 and 2 by the same entity that the ten spaces allocated to both units will be shared. What is important is that there is sufficient parking space between them for their respective uses and in this case, it is considered that there is. - 6.6 It may also be considered appropriate to control the hours of operation. However, given the lack of such a condition on the original approval for the building, and the fact that there is likely to be lower levels of traffic and disturbance from the proposed than the lawful use of the building, it is not considered necessary in this case. - 6.7 Finally, whilst the site lies within an area liable to flood risk, the proposed use is no more likely to be affected by such risk than is the lawful use of the site and is not considered a high risk use type. CONCLUSION
7.1 The application is supported. 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:
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.
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Signed :…………………………………….. 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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This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the file copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online services/customers and archive records.
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