Why Was This Refused?
- ✓Increased residential units would create unmet parking demand in the town centre
- ✓Concentration of single-bed units considered harmful to community balance
- ✓Changes to shopfront at 8 Arbory Street would dilute the commercial streetscape
- ✓Risk of setting a precedent for further domestic frontages replacing shop fronts
- ✓Committee refused despite officer recommendation to approve
- ✓parking
- ✓character
- ✓precedent
This application sought to convert and alter a group of properties at Callow's Yard, Arbory Street and a bar unit behind Malew Street in Castletown. The works would have created a mix of one and two-bed apartments, a town house, and converted a bar/restaurant into three apartments, all available for residential or tourist use, alongside a new two-storey commercial building. The Department of Infrastructure's committee refused the application on 14 May 2014, going against the case officer's recommendation to approve. Three specific harms were identified: inadequate parking to serve the additional residential units, an over-concentration of single-bed accommodation that would damage the town centre's community character, and physical changes to the shopfront at 8 Arbory Street that would erode the commercial appearance of the street.
The Department of Infrastructure refused this application despite the case officer recommending approval. The committee identified three main concerns: the increased number of residential units would worsen parking pressure in the town centre; concentrating too many single-bed units in one location would harm the sense of community; and altering the shopfront at number 8 Arbory Street would weaken the commercial character of the street and set a damaging precedent.
Refusal Reasons
- ✕The proposal would result in an increase in the overall number of residential units, such as would result in a requirement for parking spaces, not all of which could be satisfied at all times. This would therefore result in an adverse impact on the town centre and those living and visiting it, with residents potentially being unable to find parking spaces conveniently close to their homes and visitors not being able to park conveniently close to the amenities which they are visiting, to the detriment of the attractiveness of the town centre.
- ✕The proposal would result in an over-intensive number of single bed units which would be a concentration of such a type of accommodation which would alter adversely the sense of community within the town centre.
- ✕The physical changes to number 8, Arbory Street would result in diminution, albeit relatively slight, which would dilute the commercial appearance of the Street and its attractiveness to potential customers. This could also establish an unfortunate precedent for further shop fronts to be replaced with domestic frontages to the detriment of the streetscape.
