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Application No.: 18/01214/C Applicant: Caroline Etherington Therapies Proposal: Additional use of residential property as a therapy treatment business Site Address: 38 Ballanawin Strang Douglas Isle of Man IM4 4NT Senior Planning Officer: Mr Thomas O'Connor Site Visit: 30.01.2019 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 13.02.2019 _________________________________________________________________
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: To ensure that the development is undertaken in accordance with the application details and in the interest of protecting neighbouring living conditions.
Reason: Although the specific details of this application and the visual appearance of the building have all been found acceptable, any change to its use will require fresh assessment.
This approval relates to the Site Location Plan; unnumbered Ground Floor and First Floor Plan; Application Form & Photographs) date stamped and received on 20th November 2018
_______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons
None _____________________________________________________________________________
THE APPLICATION IS BEFORE THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE PROPOSAL COULD BE CONSIDERED CONTRARY TO THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN BUT RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL
1.0 THE SITE - 1.1The site consists of a modern two storey semi-detached dwelling with front and rear curtilages, a detached garage set back on the side and room for single line parking for up to three vehicles to the side. Location is within an estate of similar dwellings with the dwelling sharing a broad access with No.36 onto the highway sufficient to accommodate two cars in width. The character of the area is primarily residential located within Braddan Parish.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 No external alterations are proposed in what will consist of a change of use of part of the dwelling, namely a therapy treatment business. In this respect, the upper front bedroom would be utilized as a therapy room with access from the main front entrance. The remainder of the house, including the two main bedrooms would remain in residential use. - 2.2 The applicant indicates that she will be the sole operator of this business envisaging 2 - 3 clients per day with hours of work limited to 20.00 hrs Monday to Saturday and no work being undertaken on Sundays.
3.0 PLANNING POLICY - 3.1. The Braddan Parish District Plan, adopted July 1991, seeks in Policies 2.1 to 2-3 to retain significant retail development only within towns and villages but recognises that demand may be present for the development and placing of some retail in residential areas to serve local neighbourhood needs. However, the area surrounding the site is wholly residential in its character and zoned as such in chapter 5 of the Braddan Parish District Plan and the introduction of a commercial/retail use of the sort proposed would technically contrary to Policy and therefore require referral to Committee for a decision - 3.2 General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 states: "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:
3.3 Strategic Policy 9 states: "All new retail development (excepting neighbourhood shops and those instances identified in Business Policy 5) and all new office development (excepting corporate headquarters suitable for a business park (1) location) must be sited within the town and village centres on land zoned for these purposes in Area Plans, whilst taking into consideration Business Policies 7 and 8." - 3.4 Transport Policy 4 states: "The new and existing highways which serve any new development must be designed so as to be capable of accommodating the vehicle and pedestrian journeys generated by that development in a safe and appropriate manner, and in accordance with the environmental objectives of this plan."
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 4.1 None recorded
5.1 Braddan Parish Commissioners: No objections raised (29/11/2018) - 5.2 Neighbours and local residents: No observations have been received. - 5.3 Highways: No objection subject to conditions that control the hours and extent of the business as described, namely
6.1 The use of the site as proposed would in many respects be minor in terms of its scale of operation and provided the level of operation remains as stated would be unlikely to have any discernible impact upon the residential amenity of local resident in this cul de sac. No concerns have been raised by local residents. - 6.2 When considering this matter it is important to acknowledge that across the Island permissions has been approved and refused for the operation of businesses (i.e. beauty treatments, hairdressers & tutoring) from a residential property, throughout the IOM. In fact the Department's Permitted Development Order permits a number of business operations to be run from a dwelling, these including child minding (up to 6 children), Bed and Breakfast (up to - 3 bedrooms) and an occupant of a dwelling can operate any business from home (no visitors/staff allowed) via a home office within the property. Accordingly, whilst the proposed
use does not comply with the land use designation; this is not an automatic reason to refusal the application in this case.
6.3 However introduction of a business use, no matter how minor, into a predominantly residential is a departure from the 1991 Braddan Parish District Plan. - 6.4 The parking standards in 'The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016' require 2 car parking spaces for a dwelling. Additional site parking is also required for the proposed business development. Based on the information provided, the site has three tandem parking spaces off road able to accommodate three large cars and Highway Services state in their response dated 19/01/19, that they would not oppose the application subject to conditions being imposed to control the operation of the business as described in the application
7.1 The main considerations when determining the application for a business of this type are the principle of operating a business from the site; the potential impacts upon neighbouring amenities; the potential impact upon on-street parking in the area and potential visual impact. - 7.2 A further issue in terms of the principle is the impacts on the nearby town and village centres. It is generally presumed that new commercial uses will be directed towards existing commercial areas. However, the impact of a single employee operating in this location is unlikely to draw materially harmful levels of trade away from the town centre. Moreover, such small businesses could enable the growth of a business that would eventually achieve a sufficient turnover as to encourage its moving into larger, more attractive and more appropriate commercial premises in that town centre in due course.
8.1 As already indicated, the location of nearby properties can heighten the impacts of people coming and going from a property. For instance in a quiet residential cul-de-sac having the potential of 3 persons visiting over the course of a day, can have some impact to residential amenities on neighbouring properties along Ballanawin. However, given the low level of operation proposed it is not considered the impact would be so significant to warrant a refusal of this application. - 8.2 Highway Services have indicated their preference for the business to be operated over a five day week period and suggested that the business does not operate at all during the weekends but have offered to viable justification for this. The applicant has indicated in their submission that, because of the working arrangements of some of her customers, they would request that they be able to operate the business until 1400 hours on Saturdays with no business activities taking place from this time on Saturday to opening of business again on Monday mornings. - 8.3 Overall, whilst the beauty therapy business will result in some level of increase in respect of the level of persons coming and going from the site and have some marginal potential to increase disturbance, it is not considered that such impacts are sufficient to warrant a refusal. Even with the business activities extended to 1400 hours on Saturdays, the physical development proposed is not considered to have a significant impact to warrant a refusal. Accordingly, the proposal would comply with General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.
9.1 The applicant has advised that they can accommodate three parked vehicles on their existing driveway comfortably and photographs included in the submission do demonstrate this. Highway Services comment that each parking bay should be at least 2.5m x 5.5m in size with a 0.9m wide path from the public highway to the dwelling front door and the proposed business unit. This would result in an overall driveway width requirement of 8.4m. This being
10.1 Located wholly within the interior of the building the business would not be observable from outside of the house and the use can be conditioned to be carried out from the single room as indicated in the submitted drawing. As such, it is not considered that this proposal would undermine the character of the street-scene. - 11.0 RECOMMENDATION
11.1 Overall, though the proposal would technically be a departure from the Braddan Parish District Plan 1991, and the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 this operation, controlled by suitable conditions, would serve a therapeutic need within the locality and have no discernible impact upon the amenities of the surrounding area. As such, the application is recommended for approval subject to the conditions listed. - 12.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS
12.1 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.
Signed : T O’Connor Presenting Officer Further to the decision of the Committee an additional report & amended condition were required YES/NO See below PLANNING COMMITTEE DECISION 04.03.2019
Application No. : 18/01214/C Applicant : Caroline Etherington Therapies Proposal : Additional use of residential property as a therapy treatment
business
Site Address : 38 Ballanawin Strang Douglas Isle of Man IM4 4NT Senior Planning Officer : Mr Thomas O'Connor Presenting Officer As above Addendum to the Officer’s Report Committee at its meeting on 04/03/2019 required that condition 2 be amended to read:
No clients of the beauty therapy business hereby approved shall remain on the application site outside of the following hours 0830hrs to 2000hrs Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday, Fridays and 0830 to 1400 hours on Saturdays. There shall be a 15 minimum gap between individual customers attending appointments on the site.
Reason: To ensure that the development is undertaken in accordance with the application details and in the interest of protecting neighbouring living 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: To ensure that the development is undertaken in accordance with the application details and in the interest of protecting neighbouring living conditions.
Reason: Although the specific details of this application and the visual appearance of the building have all been found acceptable, any change to its use will require fresh assessment.
This approval relates to the Site Location Plan; unnumbered Ground Floor and First Floor Plan; Application Form & Photographs) date stamped and received on 20th November 2018.
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