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Application No.: 19/00065/C Applicant: Malew Parish Commissioners Proposal: Temporary use of playing fields as a camp site with portable toilets and showers and marquees for the duration of the TT Festival, Southern 100 and IOM Festival of Motorcycling Site Address: Ronaldsway Sports And Social Club Clubhouse Ronaldsway Industrial Estate Ballasalla Isle Of Man IM9 2RY Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken: 11.02.2019 Site Visit: 11.02.2019 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 21.03.2019 _________________________________________________________________
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.
Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the drawings and information received on 24th January, 2019. _______________________________________________________________
Additional Persons
It is recommended that Isle of Man Railways, Department of Infrastructure should be given Interested Person Status on the basis that they have made written submissions relating to planning consideration.
It is recommended that Ronaldsway Aircraft Company should be given Interested Person Status as they are considered to have sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings and are not mentioned in Article 6(4). _____________________________________________________________________________
THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE DEVELOPMENT IS CONTRARY TO THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
1.1 The site is the sports pitches and clubhouse buildings associated with Ronaldsway Sports and Social Club located within the Ronaldsway Industrial Estate, to the north of the main spine road and to the west of the Ronaldsway Aircraft Company factory. The site has established shrubs around the entrance from the estate road and along the southern boundary which screens the pitches and buildings from view from elsewhere within the estate. THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Proposed is the use of the pitches and clubhouse for a temporary camp site for the TT, Southern 100 and Festival of Motorcycling events including the Pre and Post TT races on the Southern 100 circuit. There would be up to 152 5m tents with up to 608 campers at any one time. The application will include the provision of portable toilet units and showers with additional marquees for socialising, eating and clothes drying, details of which are shown on the plans. The camp site would be open for business 2 days prior to the first Pre-TT Classic until 2 days after the last race day of TT, 2 days prior to Southern 100 until 2 days after and 2 days prior to the first practice of Classic TT and Manx Grand Prix until 2 days after the last race of that event. The camp site will be erected up to a week before and taken down within a week after each of these periods.
2.2 What is not shown or clear on the drawings is the parking area to the rear of the clubhouse which accommodates over 50 cars. PLANNING POLICY - 3.1 The site is designated on the Area Plan for the South (2013) as Industry/Business Park. The Accompanying Development Brief states the following:
6.10 Site 5 Location: Land to the north of the Ronaldsway Industrial Estate Road and to the west of the RLC Engineering Group Building, Malew Size of Site: 5.9 ha Previous designation: Industrial Proposed designation - 6.11 Development Brief 5
Ronaldsway playing fields and its associated facilities have and the merits of any proposed development will be considered at the time of a future planning application. Account will also be taken of the size and design of any new buildings, the use to which any new buildings will be put, the impact on adjacent users and the overall impact on the character and appearance of Ronaldsway Business Park.
4.1 The site has been the subject of various applications for sport-related development, none of which is relevant to the determination of the current application. REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Malew Parish Commissioners have no objection (06.02.19).
5.2 Highway Services do not object, considering that the existing access arrangements should be sufficient to serve the development and that there is existing parking in the vicinity of the proposed shower and toilet facilities with overspill parking at the airport which is a short distance from the site. They also note that double yellow lines are in place on the public highways in the vicinity preventing on street parking here (01.02.19). - 5.3 Isle of Man Railways, DoI have no objection provided that the camping equipment conforms to a minimum of BS5852 regarding flammability and that it is all secured to prevent such items blowing onto the track in high winds (19.02.19). - 5.4 The Public Transport Division of DoI contacted the office to advise that the current bus service does not always go through the Airport and that there are no bus stops near the site. The Commissioners advised that according to the bus timetable, the first bus from Douglas arrives at the Airport at 0558hrs and the last departs at 2202hrs: in the other direction the bus arrives at 0556hrs and departs at 2213hrs with the nearest stop being at Brookfield Avenue, some 450m away (06.02.19). - 5.5 Ronaldsway Aircraft Company which owns the building and site immediately to the east and share the access into the application site, write in expressing concerns on two occasions (14.02.19 and 18.02.19). They are concerned that as the roadway serving the site is wholly owned by them with a wayleave in place for the applicant, the roadway, which is unadopted, is unsuitable to support two way traffic. It is controlled under their health and safety policy to 10mph with appropriate signage in place, but the application contains no information as to how their traffic speed and flow will be controlled. They are also concerned about the impact on the security of their operations in relation to the associated regulatory authorities (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and the Ministry of Defence. They will not take any liability for accidents on the access road under their third party liability insurance. Their preference is that a new, separate access is created at the other end of the site. In any event they would request that if the application is approved, conditions should be attached to ensure that the camping is only for the three periods stipulated in the application. - 5.6 The applicant responded to these comments on 21.02.19, stating that they had been advised by the objector that their premises is completely closed for TT fortnight and they think this is a company policy so perhaps their concerns are limited to the Southern 100 and Festival of Motorcycling periods and in these periods, the number of campers would be reduced in comparison with the TT period. They suggest that the site has been used previously under its sport and recreation use, for up to 150 guests at large scale celebrations such as weddings and birthday parties with large scale sporting events - cricket, football and crown green bowls. They confirm that they have a right of way over the access and this is 4.95m wide which is wide enough to accommodate two vehicles side by side but in any case, much of their traffic is anticipated to be motorcycles. They are happy to provide and erect additional signage reinforcing Ronaldsway Aircraft Company's chosen speed limit as well as reminding guests of the need to be respectful in all of their correspondence and welcome packs along with any
additional signage as required, reinforcing that the land to the east is privately owned. They confirm that the site will be manned with security staff 24 hours a day when the site is occupied by campers. They query why RAC has to adhere to the security requirements of ITAR of the MoD nor if these obligations are actually imposed on the site neighbouring the RAC site. Having asked the objector for specific concerns in this respect, the proposed operator of the site has received no response. He would be happy to address any concerns they may have. They confirm that the proposal is for the three motorcycle race periods only and they provide an additional layout plan indicating where the available parking will be.
6.1 In planning terms tourist development is treated the same as any other form of development in the countryside - that is, there is a presumption against development. However, it is recognised that camping is becoming an important part of the Island's tourist attractions and an increasing popular form of tourist accommodation and understood that Department of Economic Development is supportive of initiatives which attract and accommodate more visitors to and on the Island. A number of camp sites have been approved
6.2 There are no Strategic Plan policies which guide tourist related developments other than those which encourage the use of existing buildings (EP16). The Plan also contains a policy which presumes against the loss of recreational facilities (RP2). However, it is generally accepted that where there is a need for camping facilities in association with particular events on the Island, temporary camp sites can be acceptable, and this has been particularly successful on sports pitches: Douglas Rugby Club, Ballafletcher rugby, football and cricket grounds, Union Mills FC, Castletown Metropolitan FC, Foxdale AFC, Peel AFC, Rushen FC and Laxey AFC all operate temporary pitches and at times when the pitches are not used. The income from the use as a temporary camp site can provide much needed support for social and sports organisations. - 6.3 In this case, there are existing car park facilities and buildings which may be used and there will be tents which can accommodate additional covered facilities. In this case the site is designated for development. The car parking area is used by others and at the time of the site visit there were a number of cars already parked here. However, there was sufficient space available around the rear, side and front of the buildings to accommodate all of the vehicles which could arise as a result of the proposal. The site is well screened from most public vantage points and could already be used to accommodate large numbers of people in terms of hosting sporting or social events. - 6.4 Whilst the concerns of the neighbouring land user are understood, it is not considered that the use of the site for camping compared with its lawful and established use for sports and social activities would generate particularly different impacts on them and it could be argued that there will be a greater level of control over patrons of the site if they are paying to stay there, than there would be in the case of guests at a social function or supporters of a sporting event. - 6.5 The concerns of the railway operator are also understood although the solution and control is not particularly relevant to the planning process and is more likely to be controlled under the licence issued by the local authority in conjunction with other authorities' regulations including Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service, Environmental Health (DEFA) and Department for Enterprise. It is not proposed that conditions are attached relating to the securing of the tents or adherence to camping regulations.
7.1 The proposal is considered to support the Government's tourism strategy, would not have any undue environmental impacts and not conflict with the Strategic or Area Plan policies and 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.
Decision Made : Permitted Committee Meeting Date: 01.04.2019
Signed : S CORLETT 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
Application No. : 19/00065/C Applicant : Malew Parish Commissioners Proposal : Temporary use of playing fields as a camp site with portable toilets and showers and marquees for the duration of the TT Festival, Southern 100 and IOM Festival of Motorcycling Site Address : Ronaldsway Sports And Social Club Clubhouse Ronaldsway Industrial Estate Ballasalla Isle Of Man IM9 2RY Principal Planner : Miss S E Corlett Presenting Officer As above Addendum to the Officer’s Report
The Planning Committee approved the application but subject to clarification in condition 2 that the camp site may not be operational between the three race periods.
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 This decision relates to the drawings and information received on 24th January, 2019.
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