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Application No.: 19/00280/C Applicant: David Anderson Proposal: Additional use of industrial unit (class 5) as a retail unit (class 1) during the periods associated with the Southern 100, TT Classic, TT, Manx Grand Prix, and Rally events from 2019 to 2024. Site Address: Optical House Harcourt Drive Balthane Ballasalla Isle of Man IM9 2AH Photo Taken: 15.05.2019 Site Visit: 15.05.2019 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 25.04.2019
Conditions and Notes for Approval: 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 limit the retail use and parking demand throughout most of the year and to reduce the risk of any permanent retail use.
Reason: To ensure that the use approved matches that of what was applied for. _______________________________________________________________
Additional Persons
It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following properties should not be given Interested Person Status as they are not 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):
Isle of Man Enterprises, as they do not clearly identify the land which is owned or occupied which is considered to be impacted on by the proposed development in accordance with paragraph 2A of the Policy, are not within 20m of the application site and the development is not automatically required to be the subject of an EIA by Appendix 5 of the Strategic Plan, in accordance with paragraph 2B of the Policy, and as they have not explained how the development would impact the lawful use of land owned or occupied by them and in relation to the relevant issues identified in paragraph 2C of the Policy, as is required by paragraph 2D of the Policy.
THIS APPLICATION HAS BEEN BROUGHT BEFORE PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR DETERMINATION AS IT INVOLVES A DEPARTURE FROM THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN.
1.0 SITE - 1.1 The site is Optical House in Balthane Industrial Estate, a standalone industrial unit towards the west of the estate. The unit is close to Motorcycle sales and repair units as well as a café and general industrial uses. The site building is two storeys with office style glazing on part of the elevations. There is a visitors entrance and lobby on the south east elevation, within which is access to a ground floor reception/office room measuring 12m2. There is also off road parking to the front and side. The site in question was previously used as a motorcycle repair and sales unit.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Proposed is the temporary additional use of part of the unit for retail and the selling of snuff and related products. The part of the building in question is the 12m2 office room on the ground floor. - 2.2 The proposal is for 5 years from 2019 to 2024, with opening hours of 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday during the summer racing festivals including one week before and after these events such as the TT, MGP, Southern 100 and other racing events. The room would revert to its original purpose when not in use. 1 or 2 staff would be employed from the store. The case officer contacted the applicant for clarification as to the rally events specified, desired events were not named but the main rally events are therefore regarded as the Manx International Rally and the Manx National Rally (usually May and September).
3.0 PLANNING POLICY - 3.1 The proposal site is situated in an area zoned in the Area Plan for the South as Industrial. - 3.2 The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 sets out some general policies which should be considered when assessing an application in an area zoned as such. General Policy 2 (in part) is key to this application;
"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 Business Policy 5 is key to assessing the principle of the proposal:
"On land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution; retailing will not be permitted except where either:
3.4 Business Policy 10 further states: "Retail development will be permitted only in established town and village centres, with the exceptions of neighbourhood shops in large residential areas and those instances identified in Business Policy 5." - 3.5 Transport Policy 7 is also relevant: "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards." (Set out in Appendix 7).
4.1 There is no planning history materially relevant to this application. - 5.0 REPRESENTATIONS
5.1 DoI Highway Services oppose the application as "it has not been demonstrated that there would be sufficient spare site parking capacity to accommodate the proposed additional parking demand that would be generated by the proposals. The existing site parking area shown in the application is for all uses within the building and not just the proposed development alone.
In order to remove the highway objection, the applicant should provide car parking surveys at regular intervals throughout a weekday to demonstrate that there would be enough site car parking available to accommodate the proposed additional site parking demand. It would be useful if the applicant could also provide further information to justify the likely level of increased parking demand that would be generated by the development.
Should the application be approved, it is requested that a planning condition is imposed to limit the proposed additional use of the site to the temporary periods only as stated in the application." (23.04.19).
5.2 Malew Parish Commissioners have no objection to the application (03.04.2019). - 5.3 A comment has been received from the Development Surveyor at Isle of Man Enterprises stating the following:
"We would just like to raise that the above application was highlighted as possibly at odds with Business Policy 5 as this use would be better placed on the high street. It doesn't appear to justify a change or use to retail from Light Industrial."
6.1 The key considerations in the assessment of this application are both the matter of principle of the use of part of an industrial unit for retail purposes, and the impact this may have on parking and highway safety.
7.1 In summary, whilst retail uses in industrial estates are discouraged, the small scale nature of the proposal ancillary to the main warehouse/distribution use of the building is regarded as acceptable. Additionally, there would no adverse impact on parking arrangements within the estate and by extension highway safety.
7.2 It is important to emphasise that this permission is temporary only, and for a specific retail use linked directly to the existing industrial use. It should not be taken as an indicator that retail uses in industrial estates are generally acceptable. - 7.3 Conditions imposed on approval should limit the periods of the use to shorter than those requested initially by the applicant in order to prevent an almost inclusive use throughout the summer months.
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.
Signed : N Salt Presenting Officer Further to the decision of the Committee an additional report and a reason for refusal were required. YES/NO See below PLANNING COMMITTEE DECISION 28.05.2019 Application No. : 19/00280/C Applicant : David Anderson Proposal : Additional use of industrial unit (class 5) as a retail unit (class 1) during the periods associated with the Southern 100, TT Classic, TT, Manx Grand Prix, and Rally events from 2019 to 2024. Site Address : Optical House Harcourt Drive Balthane Ballasalla Isle of Man IM9 2AH Planning Officer Mr Nick Salt Reporting Officer As above Addendum to the Officer’s Report The Planning Committee on 28th May 2019 voted to overturn the case officers recommendation for approval in favour of a refusal.
R 1. The proposal does not accord with Business Policies 5 and 10 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 as there is insufficient justification provided for the establishment of a retail use in an industrial area.
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