Officer Report

Application No.: 25/90199/B Applicant: Elma Tee Proposal: Replacement of windows Site Address: 7 Milner Terrace Castletown Isle Of Man IM9 1AJ Planning Officer: Vanessa Porter Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 04.04.2025 _________________________________________________________________

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.

The proposed windows are acceptable by ultimately preserving the overall Conservation Area and Streetscene, as such the proposal complies with Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act (1999) and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 25th February 2025;

• o Location Plan
• o Window quotation
• o Annotated photo of front elevation _________________________________________________________________

Right to Appeal It is recommended that the following organisations should NOT be given the Right to Appeal: Highway Services - No Objection _________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report

THE APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of No. 7 Milner Terrace, Castletown, which is a three storey mid terrace property situated to the South East of Milner Terrace. THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 The current planning application seeks approval for the replacement of three windows to the front elevation from the current sliding sash to casement windows. The casement windows are proposed to have a replication of the existing glazing bars. PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 There are no previous applications which are relevant to the assessment of this application. PLANNING POLICY - 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Predominantly Residential" on the Area Plan for the South, Map 5 - Castletown. The site is situated within a Flood Risk Zone and a Conservation Area.

4.2 Given the nature of the of the land designation and the property being within a Conservation Area, Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act (1999) is the most relevant in the assessment of this application. Followed by paragraph 7.29.2 and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan, which set out development in Conservation Areas will only be permitted where they preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the area. - 4.3 Also relevant to the assessment of the application is General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 which sets out "development control" considerations, and Environment Policy 10, which sets out that applications in a Flood Risk Zone must be accompanied by a Flood Risk Assessment and the Residential Design Guidance 2021 and Planning Circular 1/98.

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 The following representations can be found in full online;

5.2 Highway Services have considered the proposal and state "No Highways Interest." (03.03.25) - 5.3 No comments have been received from Castletown Commissioners at the time of writing this report. (04.04.25)

ASSESSMENT

6.1 The main issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are:

• - Section 18(4) test - Character
• - Section 18(4) test - Appearance
• - Flood Risk

- 6.2 SECTION 18(4) TEST - CHARACTER

• 6.2.1 Due to the proposed works being in a Conservation Area it is necessary to test the application under section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act (1999), see section 4.2 of this report, on whether the works preserve or enhance the Conservation Area.
• 6.2.2 Applications such as the proposal within this application are hard when assessing whether they would impact the character of the Conservation Area above and beyond what is currently in place, the reasoning for this is that the proposal is removing the existing sliding sash windows and is proposing casement windows.

• 6.2.3 Ordinarily such a proposal would be against Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act

(1999), Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and Planning Circular 1/98, due to the proposed windows not replicating the existing windows.

• 6.2.4 Prior to making a decision based on the above, a site visit was undertaken to understand the streetscene and to ascertain what the character of the Conservation Area within this part of Castletown was. Within a Conservation Area, windows can be argued to be the most important element within a façade, as they can determine the style, age or even the purpose of a building, whilst this is the case over time there has been a range of windows installed within Conservations Areas as a whole.
• 6.2.5 Milner Terrace, has over time been reduced to two properties having sliding sash windows, the application site and No.3 Milner Terrace, of which some of the properties have received Planning Permission and some of the properties have been done without the benefit of Planning Permission.
• 6.2.6 As such the Conservation Area is now defined by the casement windows in place, more than the sliding sash windows which are left within the two remaining properties. The removal of the sliding sash is regrettable but to request that sliding sash be put back into the property when the rest of the street bar one, including the neighbour to the West have casement windows would be unjustified in this case.
• 6.2.7 With the above in mind, the proposal would be preserving the overall Conservation Area.

- 6.3 SECTION 18(4) TEST - APPEARANCE

• 6.3.1 Turning towards the appearance of the proposal and whether the windows would preserve or enhance the Conservation Area. Planning Circular 1/98 states that there is no preference in the material used in windows within a Conservation Area as such the proposed uPVC windows are recognised as an acceptable alternative to timber, which will preserve the Conservation Area.

6.4 FLOOD RISK

• 6.4.1 The proposal within this application is to replace existing windows in existing apertures, as such whilst the application site is within a Flood Risk Zone, it is deemed that a Flood Risk Assessment is not required as the proposal would not be adding any additional impacts upon the property.

CONCLUSION

7.1 Whilst initially the proposal does not meet the policy tests within Section 4 of this report, when noting the Character and Appearance of Milner Terrace, the change from sliding sash to casements is a logical proposal and as such, the proposed windows will ultimately preserve the overall Conservation Area and Streetscene. The proposal complies with Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act (1999) and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016. RIGHT TO APPEAL AND RIGHT TO GIVE EVIDENCE - 8.1 The Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 sets out the process for determining planning applications (including appeals). It sets out a Right to Appeal (i.e. to submit an appeal against a planning decision) and a Right to Give Evidence at Appeals (i.e. to participate in an appeal if one is submitted).

8.2 Article A10 sets out that the right to appeal is available to:

• o applicant (in all cases);
• o a Local Authority; Government Department; Manx Utilities; and Manx National Heritage that submit a relevant objection; and
• o any other person who has made an objection that meets specified criteria.

8.3 Article 8(2)(a) requires that in determining an application, the Department must decide who has a right to appeal, in accordance with the criteria set out in article A10. - 8.4 The Order automatically affords the Right to Give Evidence to the following (no determination is required):

• o any appellant or potential appellant (which includes the applicant);
• o the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, the Department of Infrastructure and the local authority for the area;
• o any other person who has submitted written representations (this can include other Government Departments and Local Authorities); and
• o in the case of a petition, a single representative.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by a Principal Planner 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 and/or rights to appeal.

Decision Made : Permitted Date: 07.04.2025 Determining Officer Signed : J SINGLETON Jason Singleton Principal Planner

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