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Application No.: 19/00257/B Applicant: Mr Richard Cassidy & Ms Nadine Lewis Proposal: Alterations, demolition of an existing store building and erection of a detached double garage Site Address: Westmore 35 Arbory Street Castletown Isle Of Man IM9 1LL Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken: 10.04.2019 Site Visit: 10.04.2019 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Refused Date of Recommendation: 10.05.2019 _________________________________________________________________ Reasons for Refusal R : Reasons for Refusal O : Notes attached to reasons - R 1. The proposal would fail to preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Castletown Conservation Area, through the removal of unobtrusive stone walling and its replacement with a rendered building of modern proportions. The proposal would therefore contravene General Policy 2b and 2c and Environment Policy 35 of the Strategic Plan as well as policy CA/2 of Planning Policy Statement 1/01. - R 2. The proposal would result in the reduction in the number of full sized car parking spaces on site, contrary to General Policy 2h and Transport Policy 7 of the Strategic Plan. - R 3. The proposal would result in parking spaces where the visibility of and from vehicles emerging from the site would be limited by the garage walls, and would thus result in a reduction in highway safety, contrary to General Policy 2i and Transport Policy 6 of the Strategic Plan. - R 4. The building by virtue of its height and the inclusion of a first floor window in the rear elevation facing the rear of the adjacent dwellings in Arbory Street, would introduce opportunities for overlooking which do not presently exist, and the development would be unneighbourly, contrary to General Policy 2g. _______________________________________________________________
It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following properties 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):
31, 33 and 37, Arbory Street as they satisfy all of the requirements of paragraph 2 of the Department's Operational Policy on Interested Person Status (July 2018).
_____________________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report THE SITE
1.1 The site is the curtilage of an existing dwelling, 35, Arbory Street which fronts onto Arbory Street and backs onto Farrant's Way opposite the car park associated with Castle Court apartments. - 1.2 The dwelling is a stone faced three storey building whose front elevation faces directly onto Arbory Street. The rear is more plain with a rendered rear wall. At the end of the rear garden is a parking area flanked by stone walls with a pedestrian door in the centre of the recessed wall. - 1.3 The existing parking area has dimensions of between 5.25m and 5.5m by 6.6m. THE PROPOSAL
2.1 Proposed is the demolition of the existing stone walls and their replacement with a rendered walled garage with a study in the roofspace. The garage would extend across the full width of the available parking area other than a pedestrian way to the left. The garage would have two garage doors. - 2.2 Internally the garage will have one parking space which has dimensions of 6m by 3m, the other being shorter due to the inclusion of the internal staircase, being 4.9m by 2.7m. PLANNING POLICY
3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Area Plan for the South 2013 as Predominantly Residential. The site also lies within Castletown's Conservation Area. As such, the following Strategic Plan policies are applicable:
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:
Environment Policy 35: 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.
3.2 Also, Planning Policy Statement 1/01 - Conservation of the Historic Environment of the Isle of Man requires that:
POLICY CA/2 SPECIAL PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS When considering proposals for the possible development of any land or buildings which fall within the conservation area, the impact of such proposals upon the special character of the area, will be a material consideration when assessing the application. Where a development is proposed for land which, although not within the boundaries of the conservation area, would affect its context or setting, or views into or out of the area; such issues should be given special consideration where the character or appearance of a conservation area may be affected.
3.3 Transport Policy 6 afford the same weight to the safety of pedestrians as other road users in the design of new development. - 3.4 Transport Policy 7 requires that development is provided with the appropriate level of car parking and in the case of residential properties, this is two parking spaces within the curtilage although this may be applied flexibly within town centre and historic areas where strict application of the standards may result in a detrimental impact on a Conservation Area or Registered Building (Appendix Seven). PLANNING HISTORY
4.1 The site itself does not have any previous applications which are considered relevant to the consideration of the current proposal. There is a similar but smaller, rendered garage to the rear of number 47 which was approved under 93/01382/B. REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 The owners of 33, Arbory Street object to the application on the grounds that the introduction of a building as proposed will increase the amount of rainwater running into their property and they note that whilst the application states that there will be no change in water supply to the building, there is a proposed toilet and there is currently no water supplied to this part of the site. The widening of the dropped kerb to facilitate access to the new garage will reduce the amount of on-street parking available in the area and there will be issues of privacy due to the proposed north elevation upper floor window which will offer a direct line of sight into the sitting room and bedroom of 33, Arbory Road [sic]. They are concerned that the building will block sunlight to their property, particularly in the afternoon (04.04.19)
5.2 The add further comments on 01.05.19, reiterating their earlier concerns and adding that they are concerned with potential damage to the boundary wall between the two properties.
5.3 The owner of 31, Arbory Street objects to the scale of the proposed development which is considered unnecessary along with the introduction of windows in the upper area. He considers that no consultation has been undertaken with Highway Services and the proposal will limit pedesetrian visibility splays when traversing the pavement. He does not understand the need for additional accommodation which "introduces oversight of adjacent property/neighbours" and suggest that there would be no control of the use of this accommodation once built, and that the "study" may not remain as such. He refers to "the Arbory and Malew Street Conservation Area". He notes that no consultations with neighbours have been undertaken. They request interested person status should the application be approved (04.04.19). - 5.4 The occupiers of 33, Arbory Street object on exactly the same grounds as the owner of 31, Arbory Street (almost exactly the same letter) (09.04.19). - 5.5 The owner of 37, Arbory Street has no objection to a single storey garage but the inclusion of a first floor would introduce overlooking of the whole of the garden of 37 and the north east
6.1 The issue here is whether the proposed development preserves or enhances the character or appearance of the Conservation Area and whether there would be any adverse impact on highway safety and the living conditions of those in adjacent dwellings. Character and appearance of the Conservation Area
6.2 The existing situation sees stone walling, albeit not old or historic walling. This would be replaced by a building of modern proportions and finish, given the width of the proposed building. The proposal would therefore not preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Conservation Area and would also fail General Policy 2b and 2c. Highway safety
6.3 The existing situation is that there are two full sized car parking spaces on the site which afford reasonable visibility of approaching pedestrians who can also see vehicles emerging from the site. The introduction of a garage will limit the visibility of and from vehicles emerging from the site, to the detriment of highway safety. - 6.4 The proposal will reduce the number of full sized car parking spaces on the site, contrary to Transport Policy 7. Living conditions of those in adjacent property - 6.5 The introduction of a building of this height, with windows in the upper floor, will introduce a viewing opportunity which does not presently exist and where the window would be within 20m of the gardens and rear elevations of 31, 33 and 37, Arbory Street, the owners of all of which have expressed concern about inter-visibility and overlooking. The building would also result in a structure where there is none currently but its distance from the adjacent dwellings is considered sufficient not to result in overshadowing or loss of light thereto, considering the guidance provided in the Residential Design Guidance of March 2019. Other concerns - 6.6 There are other things which have been raised by neighbours, such as not consulting those in nearby property, increased water run off and the fact that they do not consider the building to be necessary, but none of these would constitute a material consideration which would justify refusal of the application. The building would be provided with guttering and rainwater goods which would channel rainwater to the relevant disposal point and the erection of the building will not in itself generate additional water run off, but would merely change the nature of how this water reaches the ground.
7.1 The proposal is considered to fail General Policy 2b, 2c, 2g, 2h and 2i, Environment Policy 35 and Transport Policies 6 and 7 and is not 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 can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.
Decision Made : Refused Date : 13.05.2019 Determining officer
Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management
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