APL Planning Statement

Planning and Design Statement

Change of Use Basement Level 7 – 17 Wellington Street, Douglas, IM1 2PQ

JS Associates Ltd May 2024

Contents

• 1.0 Site and Surroundings
• 2.0 The Proposals
• 3.0 Planning History and Policy
• 4.0 Drainage & Services
• 5.0 Refuse
• 6.0 Environmental
• 7.0 Parking and Access
• 8.0 Fire
• 9.0 Regeneration
• 10.0 Summary

• 1.0 Site and Surroundings
• 1.1 The proposed development site includes a multipurpose building on Wellington Street, Douglas, which is adjacent to the main pedestrianised shopping street in the city centre. The site is owned by the applicant and previously, the basement area of the building operated as a public bar & nightclub, which has been vacant since 2020.
• 1.2 The site presently operates as several independent businesses, including a restaurant, retail stores & leisure facilities.

• 2.0 The Proposals
• 2.1 The applicant would like to maximise the use of the available, redundant, and unoccupied basement area to create office suites together with an auditorium/ events space for the tenants use and for private hire. This application is primarily a change of use from Non-Specified Class (Night Club) to Offices (Class 1.2 Professional Services or 2.1 Offices).
• 2.2 The principal tenant will be 9-Ten Media, who currently have 5 full-time employees who will be working in the office suites daily.

The tenant’s business plan includes the provision to create an additional 3 - 4 jobs over the coming few years, up to a maximum of 9 - 10 employees regularly working from office suites.

Additionally, 9-Ten Media are planning to launch a Media Academy in September 2025, starting with an intake of 3 'media cadets', and eventually expanding to a full intake of up to 12 cadets.

The working hours will be between 08.00 until 18:00, Monday to Friday. It is envisaged that the auditorium/event space could be used through the day for presentations and in the evenings for after work for events, with an expected finish time of 22.30.

• 2.3 The proposed development work to the basement level includes.

• o Complete strip-out of the existing night club/ bar fixtures and fittings.
• o New fit-out to create offices, auditorium/ event space, workstations, storage, board room, reception, kitchen and toilets.
• o No visual alterations will be made to the front Wellington Street Elevation.

• 2.4 The following link is from the Building Owner giving their insight to the Building usage and Change of Use vision

https://youtu.be/QMq_MstzPDA

• 3.0 Planning History and Policy
• 3.1 Planning History - 7 – 17 Wellington Street, Douglas, IM1 2PQ

• o 99/02334/B – Erection of building comprising two retail units café/bar and floors for leisure usage - 13 Jun 2000 - Permitted

• o 00/01375/B – Alterations to gable wall (amendments to PA 99/02334/B) - 23 Nov 2000 – Permitted

• o 00/02300/B – Additional use for Basement to be used for Night Club/Public House 24 May 2001 - Permitted

• o 00/02299/B – Additional use for Ground Floor Level to include shop, café/bar or restaurant - 24 May 2001 - Permitted

• o 02/00134/B – Alterations to shop front, installation of new window and artwork to gable elevation and erection of advertisement sign - 11 Jun 2002 - Permitted

• o 02/00387/D – Erection of advertising sign - 31 Jul 2002 – Permitted

• o 07/00635/D – Erection of Signage - 3 Jul 2007 - Permitted

• o 14/00675/B – Conversion of Ground Floor from Café/Bar to Disco/Nightclub - 28 Jul 2014 – Permitted

• o 16/00950/D – Erection of advertising board - 7 Feb 2017 – Refused

• o 17/00038/D – Installation of non-illuminated sign to gable - 20 Feb 2017 – Permitted

• o 19/00506/B – Alterations and Installation of Pizza vending machine - 25 Jul 2019 – Permitted

• 3.3 The building is not registered or located within a conservation area.
• 3.4 The proposal would be subject to general policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and the Douglas Local Plan of 1998.

• 4.0 Drainage & Services
• 4.1 The existing infrastructure will be reused, and no additional drainage or volumes of waste will be created because of this application.

• 5.0 Bin Storage
• 5.1 The change of use from night club/ bar to predominantly office space will, over all reduce the waste created. The existing bin storage provisions will be retained.

• 6.0 Environmental
• 6.1 This application will result in the repurposing of the currently un-used basement level of the building.

• 7.0 Parking and Access
• 7.1 There is no vehicle parking spaces provided on the site, nor has there ever been any on-site parking provision. However, the strategic plan states that “in general, the need to find a use for redundant buildings which are in sound condition will outweigh the drawback of any shortfall in parking provision”.
• 7.2 Public car parking is however available on the nearby promenade together with Chester Street and Shaws Brow car parks which are near-by and only a short walk away.
• 7.3 Presently, the employees use the public transport or walk in from outside Douglas city centre. They also operate a car sharing scheme.

• 8.0 Fire
• 8.1 The scheme will comply with the Isle of Man Building Regulations 2019. There are no Licencing requirements for these basement proposals and therefore, they do not fall under the Isle of Man Fire & Rescue authority’s remit. The Isle of Man Fire & Rescue authority have however been consulted over the proposals.

• 9.0 Regeneration
• 9.1 The provision of these proposals in this area will generate additional benefits for the city centre, by maximising the use of, and repurposing buildings that are presently redundant and unoccupied. These proposals will additionally increase footfall in city centre which be of benefit to the local economy.

• 10.0 Summary
• 10.1 This planning statement has been prepared on behalf of the applicant, in support of a full planning application for change of use of the basement Level, 7 – 17 Wellington Street, Douglas, IM1 2PQ.
• 10.2 The applicant would like to maximise the use of the available, redundant, and unoccupied basement area to create office suites and an auditorium/ event space.
• 10.3 Overall, the proposals are in accordance with current planning policy, and we therefore respectfully request that the Planning Committee grant permission for this application.