Planning Statement

Design | Management | Construction

Summary 20 Lime Street, Port St Mary

Supporting Information For Planning Application For The Extension And Remodelling Of The Existing Terraced House

________________________________________________________________________________________________ Date 26th of August 2025 ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction

• 0.1 The Applicants have owned the property 20 Lime Street since 2021 and have so far used it as their second home on the island, but are intending to increase their time spent in Port St Mary and would like to make modifications to the building which would allow it to become more of a family home, rather than just a holiday house.
• 0.2 At present, the dining and kitchen areas on the ground floor are constrained and do not accommodate the entire family and while on paper there are 4 bedrooms, these are all fairly small and there is only one bathroom shared between all of them.
• 0.3 The proposals are for the gable end on the left-hand side of the Carrick Bay facing elevation to be reconstructed approximately 2m further outward which will increase the dining area on the ground floor by circa 7 sqm internal area. The first-floor area will be increased by the same amount of internal area which will allow for a suitably sized master bedroom with an ensuite shower room.
• 0.4 Other minor upgrades, repairs and modifications are proposed to be carried out at the same time, most of these would be considered permitted development, but they are outlined below for completeness.
• 0.5 Underfloor heating will be added throughout all ground floor areas to improve the internal conditions as the current building is showing signs of humidity in the floor build up which is making the ground floor areas cold and damp. These and other improvements will benefit the building, but are again not planning relevant.

1. Existing Site & Building

• 1.1 The building’s main elevation is facing Lime Street to the south with a small front garden and a low-level wall. The property has a larger garden to the harbour access area and Carrick Bay to the north. It is the middle one of a row of 3 almost identical cottages which were originally built as quarry workers cottages in the late 19th century. All 3 cottages have been refurbished and extended in recent years and they are generally in good condition and form an attractive ensemble in the street as is illustrated on image 01 overleaf.
• 1.2 The street facing elevations are constructed in Manx Stone with the porch areas on all 3 cottages finished in white render and traditional windows and doors on all buildings. All roofs have slate finish and varying chimney finishes and expressions.
• 1.3 The north facing elevations are more varied in expression. No. 19 has a single-storey lean-to extension and garage with a continuous liquid roofing finish, No. 20 has two gable ends, one is timber clad with the second one glazed on the top floor and a single-storey garage with terrace adjacent, while No. 21 was remodelled in a more contemporary way in recent years and has a triple-storey fully glazed gable and a double-storey flat roof section with again a single storey terrace with terrace above.

All three buildings have compact back gardens separated by Manx stone walls from the harbour access lane along the bay and the back elevations are only visible from the bay and the Albert Pier.

Images 01 and 02 show the elevations to Lime Street.

• Image 01 – Street View / As Existing with 20 Lime Street centre on of 3 cottages
• Image 02 – Street View / As Existing with 20 Lime Street centre on of 3 cottages

• Image 03 and 04 below show the north facing elevations to the harbour access lane.

• Image 03 – Bay Facing View / As Existing with 20 Lime Street centre on of 3 cottages
• Image 04 – Bay Facing View / As Existing with 20 Lime Street on the right

• Image 05 Below shows a wider view from the Albert Pier Breakwater.
• Image 05 – Bay Facing View from The Albert Pier

• 1.4 While the area is not a designated conservation area to date, it is identified in the conservation study of Port St Mary (produced by Manxsearch Limited in February 2009) as part of an area of the village which merits the protection and enhancement which follows from conservation area status. Conservation Area design principles have therefore been taken into consideration for the proposal.

• 1.5 Planning History As outlined above, there have been various interventions with planning applications to all three cottages with the most substantial relating to 21 Lime Street in 2017 (Planning Application Ref 17/00489/B) and the change of 19 Lime Street to Tourist Accommodation in 2015. Planning permission was sought and granted in 2019 to change the use of 20 Lime Street to Tourist Accommodation, but not implemented and the building was subsequently purchased by the current tenants as a family home. There were various other applications for 20 Lime Street relating to window replacements and other relatively minor alterations over the years.

2. Proposed Interventions

• 2.1 Street facing South Elevation

• 2.1.1 The street elevation to Lime Street will remain virtually unchanged – the only elevational change proposed is that the porch area will receive an insulated render finish which will increase the size by ca 75mm in each direction externally. The porch roof will also be replaced, but it will be in keeping with the existing roof expression. The windows to the porch area will remain as existing but will be redecorated.

• 2.1.2 At roof level, the intention is to remove the un-used chimney stack to the left-hand side of the building as removing it will allow the removal of the supporting internal structure which will make the bedroom on level 1 more useable. As can be seen on Image 01, all other chimneys on the street facing elevation are single chimneys, this is the only one currently ‘doubled up’ and we believe the removal would not have an impact on the street scene.

• 2.1.3 No other changes are proposed to the street facing elevation and the overall expression and the ensemble of the three cottages will therefore not be affected.

• 2.2 Bay facing North Elevation

• 2.2.1 On the bay facing elevation the changes proposed are more substantial but again not overly substantial and in keeping with the varied appearance of the bay facing elevations where buildings include gables, dormers, other roof additions and terraces in varying shapes and finishes and a number of recent extensions have been incorporated.

• 2.2.2 The main change will be that the currently timber clad gable, which sits slightly further back than the glazed gable, will be extended out by approximately 2m to accommodate the larger ground floor dining and first floor master bedroom areas. The roof of the proposed extension will only be slightly higher than the existing to allow for the increased insulation build-up to make the extension compliant with current regulations and the walls will remain timber clad with the exact specification of materials to be confirmed in the next design stage. The proposed window to the first-floor bedroom will be slightly larger than the existing window and will include a Juliette balcony, but will not cause any overlooking issues other than to garden / terrace areas. The ground floor dining area will have a larger window to allow light into the dining space and include glazed doors to connect the inside to the external terrace area.

• 2.2.3 The glazing on the second, currently prominent gable is thermally inefficient and the proposals are for this to be replaced with an aluminium composite system which will be of a similar layout but better performing and slenderer. This would be considered permitted development on a non-street facing elevation but is noted in the application for completeness.
• 2.2.4 The garage currently has no insulation in wall or roof areas and the proposals are for new roof insulation and an insulated render system to be added. The glazed balustrade and terrace floor coverings will be replaced at the same time. These improvements will not affect the building appearance and again would be considered permitted development.

03. Other Aspects

• 3.1 Highways & Parking. No changes are proposed to access arrangements or the carparking provision. The existing driveway and garage accessed from the rear harbour lane accommodates two carparking spaces through the existing gateway. These will be retained and there also is sufficient street parking opposite the property along Lime Street.

• 3.2 Flood Risk The building is in an area which is identified as being of Tidal Flood Risk. As is shown in the image below taken from the Flood Risk Viewer, the immediate tidal flood risk is managed by the flood defence wall which has been installed in the past few years, the boat park and adjacent harbour lanes remains as medium to high flood risk area, the back and front gardens are in areas of low likelihood of tidal flooding. It should be noted that there is no evidence or local knowledge of the area having flooded in recent memory.

Image 06 – Extract from IOM Flood Risk map

• 3.3 Drainage The drainage plan obtained from Manx Utilities indicates a combined sewer; a separate surface water sewer is in existence further down Lime Street. The existing foul drain from the property connects to an inspection chamber in the front garden and then to the main sewer. The drainage will be modified internally as necessary to serve the internal modifications to the dwelling. Surface water at the rear of the property discharges to a gulley and it is assumed that this connects to the combined sewer on Lime Street as there is no storm drain that runs along the rear lane. No changes to these arrangements are proposed.

• 3.4 Other Services All other existing services to the property such as water, telecommunications and electrics will remain as existing and be modified internally where required to suit the new layout. The heating system will also remain in place as the additional area will be minimal and the new building elevations, windows and roof will be better insulated which will make the building more thermally efficient. The external oil boiler will be relocated as required.

• 3.5 Trees and Shrubs There are no large trees or shrubs in the vicinity of the building.

• 3.6 Impact on Neighbouring Buildings & Overlooking The overall height and massing of the building will only change slightly on the bay facing elevation and there will be no impact on daylight or outlook for the neighbouring buildings.

Terraces on two of the three garages are already in existence and there will be no change to overlooking aspects from the current arrangements.

4. Summary

• 4.1 The character of the area is predominantly formed by the front elevations of the properties along Lime Street. The proposed scheme retains the character of the row of cottages along the front while the proposed double storey rear extension will be relatively modest in size and will be in-keeping with other improvements to neighbouring properties that have enhanced the appearance of the area. The scheme retains the existing stone boundary walls which are also characteristic of the rear gardens of the Lime Street properties.
• 4.2 The proposals are understated and do not impact on the amenities or privacy of the neighbours in terms of overlooking of loss of amenity and both direct neighbours have been consulted.

• 4.3 We believe that the proposed changes while relatively minor will provide a substantial improvement to the quality of the living spaces and we hope the Planning Department concurs with this assessment.