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Application No.: 18/01299/C Applicant: Comfy K9 Doggy Daycare Proposal: Change of use of existing warehouse/industrial unit to dog day care Site Address: Unit 1 Warehouse Unit Hills Meadow Industrial Estate Douglas Isle Of Man IM1 5EA Planning Officer: Mr Owen Gore Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 21.02.2019 _________________________________________________________________
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.
Reason: In the interest of protecting the amenity of the neighbouring properties in accordance with General Policy 2 and Environmental Policy 22 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.
Reason: In the interests of the amenity of neighbouring residents in accordance with General Policy 2 and Environmental Policy 22 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.
Reason: To ensure that sufficient provision is made for off-street parking and turning of vehicles in the interests of highway safety and in accordance with General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan.
Plans/Drawings/Information; This planning permission relates to the following plans and documents: Business Plan/Planning Statement Site Plan Location Plan Drawing No.SC1468 C/10-02 Photographs Date-stamped as having been received 13 December 2018 Applicant emails dated 10 February 2019 and 19 February 2019. _______________________________________________________________
None _____________________________________________________________________________
THIS APPLICATION IS BEFORE THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE PROPOSAL IS NOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAND USE ZONING AND IS THEREFORE A DEPARTURE FROM THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
1.1 The application site is an established commercial building within an industrial area. The unit is located on the western side of the Hills Meadow estate, close the other entrance with Peel Road, to the north, Pulrose Road to the west and Douglas River to the south. - 1.2 To the south beyond the river is the railway line and the grounds for The Nunnery; to the north, across the road there are three properties -Thornton Cottage, which is over 60m away and then there are Burleigh Manor and Hamilton House, both of which are over 90m away and used as offices. - 1.3 The building sits lower than the nearby Peel Road such that views of it are fairly limited by both topography and the presence of walls / trees along that road. THE PROPOSAL
2.1 The proposal is to subdivide the commercial building and change of use of part of the unit from light industrial to a dog day care centre (sui generis). The internal changes will include erecting partition walls to house the rooms required to support the business. - 2.2 The applicant has provided a description of how the business will be run. In this statement it indicates that the occupancy number is expected to be 30 dogs. They have indicated in the original submission that there will be some operations in some form 7 days a week, opening earlier and later than existing day-care services on Mondays to Fridays to allow greater flexibility for customers who work different hours and reduced hours on the weekend.
2.3 The applicant makes mention of future aspirations to provide additional services such as dog walking or grooming facilities that are understood to be intended for the dogs under their care, as opposed to a separate service and a separate facility for dog training groups 'to do obedience training or agility training in an enclosed environment of an evening'. PLANNING POLICY
3.1 The site is shown on the Douglas Local Plan 1998 Map 2 (south) as being within an area of 'Light Industrial Use'. The site is not within a Conservation Area. - 3.2 The proposed use for the care of dogs is considered to be sui generis, that is, not falling within any of the Department's Use Classes. - 3.3 As such, there is no policy guidance on the conversion of modern buildings and it is therefore considered relevant to consider whether the existing use is redundant and whether the proposed use is acceptable, taking into account other Strategic Plan policies (below) and any impact on the surrounding area. In this respect, the Strategic Plan urges that development should make the best use of resources through the optimisation of the use of previouslydeveloped land, redundant buildings and unused and under-used land and buildings (Strategic Policy 1 - SP1). It also requires that development is primarily within our towns, villages and settlements (Strategic Policy 2 - SP2) and new development should be located and designed such as to promoted an integrated transport network and to minimise journeys by private car, make the best use of public transport, not adversely affect highway safety for all users and encourage pedestrian movement (Strategic Policy 10 - SP10). - 3.4 General Policy 2 (GP2) applies to development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and with other policies of this Strategic Plan; such development will normally be permitted, provided that it:-
3.5 Business Policy 1 (BP1) states that 'the growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island will be encouraged provided that development proposals accord with the policies of this Plan'. - 3.6 Business Policy 5 states that 'On land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution' and it makes particular reference to retailing. - 3.7 Environment Policy 22 (EP22) states that 'Development will not be permitted where it would unacceptably harm the environment and/or the amenity of nearby properties in terms of…iii) vibration, odour, noise or light pollution'. Within paragraph 7.17.1 it states that 'it is not the role of land use planning to duplicate controls which are the statutory responsibility of other agencies including other directorates within the Department of Local Government and the Environment'. PLANNING HISTORY
4.1 Two previous planning permission have been granted on the site 16/01346/B for the 'Part demolition of existing single storey extension and forming of new door openings', which was permitted on 10 January 2017 and 16/00414/B for the 'Alterations, partial demolition of single
storey side extension and creation of new doorways and windows to premises', which was permitted on 04 July 2016.
REPRESENTATIONS The following is a summary of the representations received; the comments can be read in full on the Government website.
5.1 Representation from the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) Highways Division states that they currently oppose the application, in the letter dated 05 February 2019. Their comment continued: -
'The site plan shows 8 parking spaces within the application redline boundary with sufficient adjacent vehicle manoeuvring space. There are no specific parking standards for the proposed use, but this level of parking should be adequate for dog day care facility for up to 30 dogs, particularly as customer drop-off and pick-up times would be staggered and not all occur at once…
However, no information on the proposed dog parties and evening training events which could create a higher parking demand above 8 spaces, particularly if customers remain on the site during these activities rather than drop-off or pick-up as for the dog day care facility. The future option for potential pick-up and drop-off service for clients is noted, but the details of the additional dog walking activity that could be run from the site also needs to be explained…
The applicant should confirm if there would be any servicing/delivery requirements for the business…'
5.2 Douglas Borough Council have commented on this application and stated that they do not object in the letter dated 07 January 2019.
5.3 At the time of writing no comments have been received from any neighbouring properties.
ASSESSMENT The principle of development
6.1 The area is designated as 'Light Industrial'. The Strategic Plan 2016 defines light industrial as separate from general industrial, as a light industrial building in which 'the processes carried on or the machinery installed are such as could be carried on or installed in any residential area without detriment to the amenity of that area by reason of noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, soot, ash, dust or grit, or undue generation of traffic or parking of vehicles'. Business Policy 5 states that 'On land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution' and it makes particular reference to retailing.
6.2 Therefore there is an emphasis in the plan to protect the existing use based on the avoidance of losing commercial, economically beneficial development; creating uses that will prejudice other areas of a similar use i.e. retail that will detract from the main shopping areas/town centre; and creating inappropriate uses in areas that will be impacted by the new use i.e. where it would impact neighbouring sites in terms of the abovementioned amenities.
6.3 However the proposed use for the care of dogs is considered to be sui generis, that is, not falling within any of the Department's Use Classes; there is no policy indicating where such a use should take place. Therefore is a balance required to accommodate new businesses such as this as this is a growing market and there have been a number of similar businesses that have sought planning approval. The Department is responsible for considering the relevant issues/impacts and make recommendations that will impact future decisions. It is considered that businesses such as this would be more appropriate located in a sustainable location i.e. in a town with good transport links, includes sufficient parking and considering the associated impacts in terms of noise and/or smell, away from residential properties. Therefore on balance
this seems like a good location and the principle for the change of use is acceptable, subject to the considerations below.
Character and appearance
6.4 There are no proposed physical changes and therefore the change of use would not unacceptably harm the characteristics of the existing building or the character of its surroundings. Impact on neighbours - 6.5 In terms of the potential impacts to the neighbouring residents, the closest property is Thornton Cottage, which is over 60m away and then there are Burleigh Manor and Hamilton House, both of which are over 90m away and all are occupied as offices and separated from the site by a very busy road. Considering the hours of operation and the lack of any outdoor space that the dogs will have regular access to, it seems unlikely that this use would have an unacceptable impact on the above properties. There is an educational facility within Digital House on Hills Meadow Industrial Estate, which could be described as a noise sensitive use, but this too is over 70m away and there is a building between this site and the applications site. Parking and highway safety - 6.6 Highways have accepted the parking arrangements based on the number of dogs; however they have objected on the basis that there was not sufficient information regarding other services i.e. walking, grooming and evening training. Following this objection the applicant has provided additional information to clarify and indicated that the dog walking will include one dog at a time leaving the premises with one staff member for a 30 minute walk; the dog training is intended to be held every Saturday a half day dog training class with 6 customers; and that following further consideration the dog parties, they have decided not to host these. The pick-up and drop off service is an option for the future of the business where they will collect customer's dogs on the way to the unit in the morning and drop them off after closing. - 6.7 It is understood that the walking and grooming activities will be services available to the dogs under the care of the applicant and therefore subject to the 30 dog limit; the walking activities will be on a 1 to 1 basis with a handler and by definition will be carried out off-site. The training sessions will take place on weekends when presumably there is less demand for the day-care service and will be based on smaller groups. Therefore it is unlikely that these activities will impact the highways or parking in any significant way.
7.1 The proposal is considered acceptable in accordance with the designation within the Local Area Plan and the appropriate policies within the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016. - 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:
8.2 The decision maker must determine:
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: 04.03.2019
Signed : O GORE 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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