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The Cregg Mill at Silverdale Glen comprises of three floors, the upper two floors are currently let to Trail Lodge Limited for the purpose of Tourist Accommodation. The business commenced in December 2019 having been granted planning permission in July 2017.
Planning permission has been previously granted for three tourist accommodation units in the proposed area.
This application seeks to achieve further planning consent for the conversion of the lower ground floor to create two fully self contained units. Planning had previously been granted for three rooms of a similar nature, however, prior to construction, it was established that the rooms would be too small for the level of comfort that we are looking to achieve. The Director’s wish to maintain a five star status, as this has been achieved in the previous conversions that we have carried out.
Each room will accommodate up to two people and will result in a net increase of only four extra persons per night across the whole property.
The change of use will be beneficial to the property as it will benefit from increased insulation and heating that will help preserve the materials and fabric of the building.
The lower ground floor benefits from two parking spaces on the slope approaching the entrance, this will have a more or less negative impact on car parking. Once the ice cream manufacturing facility is relocated, there will be no more coach tours to the factory, this will have a positive effect on the area parking and will be less intrusive to neighbouring properties. Appendix 2 highlights the existing issue of coaches absorbing parking space from visits to the ice cream factory.
The Cregg Mill at Silverdale is located on the bank of the Silverburn River in Silverdale Glen, the property was constructed circa 1823 for the milling of corn by the Monks at nearby Rushen Abbey. A five metre water wheel is located on the North elevation of the building, this was originally used for the milling of corn and has latterly been
refurbished to produce renewable energy for the tourist accommodation that is currently located on the upper two floors.
Having occupied various units within the Silverdale Complex for the past ten years I have only experienced a high level of water that could potentially enter the property on one occasion, this was in December 2015 when the Island experienced some of its worst Island wide flooding. Although the river was untypically high during this period of flooding, the water did not reach the entrance of the Cregg Mill lower floor where the change of use is proposed.
Given the changes in climate that we are currently experiencing, we have put in flood mitigation measures for the seasonal increases in rainfall and subsequent flooding. The lower floor to the Cregg Mill is approximately two metres higher than the current level of water on the river.
Following previous consultations with the Planning Department, new Manx stone wall has been erected. The wall is now sufficiently high to protect the building from the predicted 1 in 100 climate change level that is predicted by the Flood Risk Management Division.
The lower ground floor where the change of use is proposed, has not been subjected to flooding at present and has not experienced water ingress even at the highest level of flooding some six years ago.
A flood defence wall has been installed to mitigate potential flooding. Further to planning permission being granted for three tourist accommodation units in the proposed area, it became evident, when building works were due to start, that three units would not provide the level of comfort that guests expect. It was therefore agreed by the Director’s that it would be more beneficial to construct two units that were fully self contained, this would enable the Company to achieve a five star accreditation which had been awarded for the previous conversion within the property.
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