DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No.: 24/00009/C Applicant: R Cain Plant Hire Ltd Proposal: Change of use from Class 2.3 (Industrial) to plant hire, vehicle workshop and vehicle storage Site Address: Wilson And Collins Building Unit 11/12 C Balthane Ballasalla Isle Of Man IM9 2AJ Planning Officer: Vanessa Porter Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 16.05.2024

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions C 1. The development hereby approved shall be begun before the expiration of four years from the date of this decision notice.

Reason: To comply with Article 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason.

On balance, the proposed use as plant hire, vehicle workshop and vehicle storage are deemed acceptable uses within an industrial estate, which will not compromise the existing site nor the neighbouring properties, of which the uses are encouraged by Employment Proposal 1 of the Area Plan for the South and deemed to comply with Business Policy 5, Strategic Policy 1, the general standards towards development as set out in General Policy 2 and the required Highway Standards as set out in Transport Policy 7.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 31st January 2024;

• o Location and Site Plan
• o Existing and Proposed Floor Plans
• o Business Operation times and Parking email
• o Supporting Statement

This decision also relates to an email dated received 16.05.24 which explains the parking on site. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons None _____________________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report THE APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is Unit 11/12C, situated within the Balthane Industrial Estate, Ballasalla, which is a unit situated within a block of units, approved under PA20/00841/B. - 1.2 To the front of the unit is parking for four vehicles. THE PROPOSAL

2.1 The current planning application seeks approval for the change of use of the site from Class 2.3, industrial to plant hire, vehicle workshop and vehicle storage. - 2.2 Other information provided by the applicant is as follows; "Hours of operation 7am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, 7am to 1pm Saturday. - 3 staff including myself Parking is infrastructure of the unit No customer parking."

2.3 Further clarification was sought regarding the parking on site (16.05.24), to which the applicant has stated, "We have no customers coming to our workshop. My employee cars are parked at the end of the units. The other employees I'm hoping to employ will be out on sites so won't be at the unit. "

To which further clarification was sought regard how the company functions if no customers come to the site, to which the applicant stated, "99%of the time we drop the machines off to customers. And we drive the machinery on site ourselves."

PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 The following are applications upon the site, 02/02000/B - Erection of a block of nine light industrial/storage units - Permitted 04/00684/B - Erection of a further block of nine industrial/storage units - Permitted

• 08/00388/B - Erection of Industrial units - Permitted
• 09/00730/B - Erection of industrial units (comprising an amendment to PA08/00338/B) Permitted 20/00841/B - Creation of ten industrial units from existing industrial building with associated roller shutter door and doorways - Permitted PLANNING POLICY

4.1 The site is situated within an area zoned as "Industrial/ Business Park" on the Area Plan for the South, Map 4 - Ballasalla. The site is not within a Conservation Area nor a Flood Risk Zone.

- 4.2 AREA PLAN FOR THE SOUTH

• 4.2.1 Paragraph 6.8.2 specifically relates to Balthane Industrial Estate and states, "The Balthane Industrial Estate is located just south of Ballasalla Village. The Estate is used by a mix of businesses but incremental development, poor maintenance of buildings, roads and footways, has over the years, resulted in the Estate appearing neglected and unattractive in many parts giving a poor impression to the public, customers and businesses alike. It is recognised that the Estate is home to some uses which are essential to support the Island and also that there is scope for the general appearance and access to the Estate to be improved. There is considerable land available at Balthane which was first identified on the 1982 Development Order. It has been deemed appropriate to carry forward this designated into the Area plan but there is a need to secure improvement works on the Estate."
• 4.2.2 The following policy is applicable from the Area Plan for the South; Employment Proposal 1 - All industrial uses, other than small scale light industrial uses considered to be acceptable within the Mixed Use areas, or those uses deemed appropriate by the Isle of Man Strategic Plan Business Policy 7, will be located on the Industrial Estate at Balthane and where appropriate Ronaldsway and the Freeport.
• 4.3 STRATEGIC PLAN

• 4.3.1 The following Strategic Policies from the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 are relevant;

• Strategic Policy 1 - development should be located to make best use of previously developed land, redundant and underused buildings and utilising existing infrastructure;
• Strategic Policy 2 - focus new development in existing settlements unless complies with GP3; Strategic Policy 5 - development should be well designed;

• Strategic Policy 9 - All new retail development must be located within the town and village centres
• Strategic Policy 10 - development should promote integrated journeys, minimise car use and facilitate other modes of travel; Spatial Policy 1: Douglas will remain the main employment area; General Policy 2 - detailed 'development control' considerations; Business Policy 1 - encourages growth of opportunities; Business Policy 5 - land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution; retailing will not be permitted except under certain circumstances. Community Policy 7 - designed to prevent criminal and antisocial behaviour; Community Policies 10 and 11 - implement best practice so as to reduce outbreak and spread of fire; Transport Policy 1- best located close to existing transport links; Transport Policy 4 - safe and appropriate provision for journeys;

• Transport Policy 6 - needs of pedestrians;
• Transport Policy 7 - parking standards; Infrastructure Policy 5 - methods for water conservation;

4.4 DEFINITION OF GENERAL INDUSTRIAL

• 4.4.1 General industrial is defined within the Isle of Man Strategic Plan as, "means an industrial building (not being a special 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; the use of light industrial buildings for research and development products or processes is permitted by the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2005." REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 The following representations can be found in full online, below is a short summary;

5.2 Highway Services have considered the application and state, "- After reviewing this Application, Highway Services HDC finds it to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and/or parking as although tight, staff vehicles and plant equipment can be parked within the site." (09.02.24)

5.3 No comments have been received from Malew Parish Commissioners at the time of writing this report. PREAMBLE - 6.1 It is noted that there are works done to the building which do not match those approved under the 2008 approval, whilst this is the case the alteration is not so different/material in the form and manner that it has been carried out that it is not outwith the scope of the 2008 planning permission. ASSESSMENT - 7.1 The main issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are as follows:

• - principle
• - character and appearance
• - neighbouring amenity
• - parking

- 7.2 PRINCIPLE

• 7.2.1 When looking at whether the principle of the change of use is acceptable it is necessary to note that the Employment Land Review makes it clear that there is a longer term shortfall in the amount of land for employment purposes (industrial, offices, storage and distribution) within the Island, with the Isle of Man Strategic Plan mirroring this in there being a presumption against certain uses within land zoned as industrial.
• 7.2.2 Around the Island industrial units have had changes of uses approved, mostly sites situated within already existing industrial sites, with a wide range of different uses. It is important to note that whilst these changes of uses have been approved, the predominant use and character of the industrial estate is still industrial.
• 7.2.3 The proposal within this application is akin to storage and distribution by the plant hire and vehicle storage and a vehicle workshop, both of these uses are acceptable within an industrial site and having noted Employment Proposal 1 from the Area Plan for the South, are encouraged within Balthane Industrial Estate.

- 7.3 CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE

• 7.3.1 When looking at the site itself within the context of the surrounding streetscene, the proposed use would appear industrial in appearance and would not have an impact upon the character and appearance of the surrounding units.

7.4 NEIGHBOURING AMENITY

• 7.4.1 Overall the proposal would have no adverse impact upon the amenities of the neighbouring units, and it is noted that no representations have been received from either the neighbouring industrial units. As such from this point of view the proposal would accord with the principles of General Policy 2 (g) of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.

- 7.5 HIGHWAY SERVICES

• 7.5.1 Turning towards whether there would be an impact upon the parking on the site, having requested additional information regarding the parking on site, to which the applicant has stated that the parking of staff members is upon the end of the parking apron within their red line, and as such not impacting the parking upon the highway. With the applicant confirming that they drop of the machinery to customers/ drive the machinery themselves as such customer parking is not a requirement.
• 7.5.2 When looking at the parking standards from Transport Policy 7 in connection with Appendix 7, it can be seen that for storage and distribution, 1 space per 100 sqm is required, of which for the space provided 2.16 spaces would need to be provided.
• 7.5.3 The parking apron has enough space for four vehicles to sit comfortably, as such the area provided would be suitable for the spaces required as per Transport Policy 7, whilst there may be times in which the parking has been taken up by machinery, due to the business practices of the company it is unlikely that this would be for large period of times. They will also need to keep machinery away from the shutter door to provide access for their vehicle workshop. CONCLUSION

8.1 As it has been demonstrated the proposed uses are acceptable within an industrial environment, whilst also complying with Environment Proposal 1 of the Area Plan for the South, with the proposed uses not harming the use of the existing site nor the surrounding units, would not impact the highway network and would comply with the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016. - 8.2 It is noted that no conditions should be attached regarding a lock to the uses which can be done from the site as the approval under this application will be for "plant hire, vehicle workshop and vehicle storage," as requested. Any other uses whether compatible with industrial or not will need to be applied for within a fresh application. - 8.3 As such based on the above the proposal is recommended for approval. INTERESTED PERSON STATUS

8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019, the following persons are automatically interested persons:

• (a) the applicant (including an agent acting on their behalf);
• (b) any Government Department that has made written representations that the Department considers material;
• (c) the Highways Division of the Department of Infrastructure;
• (d) Manx National Heritage where it has made written representations that the Department considers material;
• (e) Manx Utilities where it has made written representations that the Department considers material;
• (f) the local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated; and
• (g) a local authority adjoining the authority referred to in paragraph (f) where that adjoining authority has made written representations that the Department considers material.

8.2 The decision maker must determine:

• o whether any other comments from Government Departments (other than the Department of Infrastructure Highway Services Division) are material; and
• o whether there are other persons to those listed above who should be given Interested Person Status

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Acting Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation and that in making this decision the Officer has agreed the recommendation in relation to who should be afforded Interested Person Status

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 17.05.2024 Determining officer

Signed : A MORGAN Abigail Morgan Acting Head of Development Management

Customer note This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the file copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online services/customers and archive records.