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The site currently consists of open fields. There are trees and bushes bordering the site. There are a few trees within the curtilage of the zoned residential site as shown. A topographical survey has been carried out and a copy is included in the application. There are no watercourses on the land or in the immediate vicinity. The existing fields are bounded by hedgerows which are proposed to be maintained and form the boundaries to the site.
A full copy of the appeal decision can be seen in Appendix A.
Inspector’s assessment and conclusions
Comment: The principle of the development on the zoned site for 6 dwellings is considered acceptable.
Comment: The sole issue relates to Station Road.
Comment: A traffic survey was carried out by the Department of Infrastructure Highways Department from the 19th February 2013 to the 25th February 2013 a copy of which is attached at Appendix B. Since the appeal, traffic measures have been introduced to Station Road immediately adjacent the access lane and outside the post office. These include double yellow lines and parking restrictions to ensure adequate sightlines to the access lane. This has significantly improved the junction to Station Road.
Comment: The access for the 6 dwellings is temporary and is required for no more than 18 months from commencement of construction on the houses.
Market conditions have significantly improved and 2 of the dwellings are already spoken for and we have enquiries on the remaining 4 dwellings despite not having consents in place.
A pre tender Health and Safety plan has been prepared for the site to demonstrate the measures proposed to ensure safety at all stages of the development.
It should be noted that Ellis Brown are the Architects for several School’s projects on the Island and have considerable experience in working on school grounds carrying out construction projects and are therefore well placed to carry out this work.
Comment: The highway conditions have been amended and would not unacceptably affect the highway in Station Road.
Comment: All other routes have been explored to access the site for construction traffic and this route is the only viable way of accessing the site.
The development comprises of 6 new detached bungalows with associated garages, services provision and foul and surface water disposal.
The properties will be single storey with traditional slate roofs, Manx Stone feature walling and rendered main walls.
They will be constructed with a timber frame and be highly insulated and environmentally friendly. The intention is to comply as near as possible to a code 5 level dwelling. This is highly insulated and environmentally friendly using materials from sustainable resources and is designed to be as energy efficient as possible.
The houses will be constructed traditionally to the sub base with traditional concrete strip footings and concrete slabs.
Using timber frame most of the pre-assembly work will be undertaken in the factory and the erection time of each dwelling from slab level to the timber frame kit being assembled, including the roof battened and felted will be in the region of 10 days. This will greatly reduce the number of vehicle movements to the site.
Timber frame houses arrive on site with most of the required materials for the dwelling on flat bed trailers or wagons. We would envisage 2 trailers per house for the walls and roof structure.
The total time for construction from commencement of building work on each house to building control completion is envisaged to be in the region of 6 months for each dwelling. The houses will be constructed in sequence.
The total construction time on the site is envisaged to be no more than 18 months and could be significantly less than this. Our current aim is to complete the development in 12 months from commencement of work on the houses.
All construction vehicles will enter and egress the site via the access lane at Station Road, St John’s.
Vehicles will approach the site from the South, avoiding the junction with Peel Road. On leaving the site these vehicles will also egress in a southerly direction where possible to avoid the Peel Road Junction.
Larger deliveries such as the timber frame deliveries will be supervised with banksmen on both access and egress from Station Road.
If required, access through the Department of Infrastructure Car Park off Station Road has been agreed with the Department.
The introduction recently of yellow lines and restricted parking to Station Road has greatly improved sightlines and congestion in the area of the Post Office and has greatly improved safety in the area.
All deliveries will be restricted and will be as per the Health and Safety Report in Appendix C, and will be during school times to avoid clashes with school children in the area.
We regularly work with the Education Department on school construction projects and are therefore very experienced at working within or near school grounds.
There will be signage erected to warn of vehicles accessing and egressing the site and where necessary personnel will be deployed to assist in traffic management and safety on Station Road and in the access Lane.
The wall to the bridge immediately south of the access lane has been reduced in height in accordance with Highways Division requirements to afford sightlines as agreed previously of 2m x 36m.
The construction activities and sequences are as follows:
a) Site Planning – Appoint Designers, Principal Contractor and CDM Coordinator, consider development phasing and construction programme, Commission specialist site investigation work, Plan construction work.
b) Site Set-Up – Secure the site boundaries, set-up welfare and administrative facilities, set-up temporary service connections for electricity. Water and telephones, set-up material storage areas.
c) Site Clearance – Site scrape and setup. No material will be taken off site and therefore vehicle movements will be dramatically reduced. d) Groundworks – Carry out any earth moving/ground levelling. e) Construction of Access Road – Construct the base for the access road, construct kerblines, surface road and footways. f) Foundations – Dig and construct foundations. g) Services – Lay service ducts and drainage pipes, install foul and surface water drainage. h) Construct Buildings – Construct ground floor, walls, first floor, roof structure and covering. i) Fit Out Buildings – First fix, plastering, second fix and finishing. j) Landscaping – landscape gardens, lay paving, landscape public areas.
a. Site Planning – Competent and properly resourced companies will be appointed to carry out the following roles/duties.
b. Designers CDM Co-ordinator Principal Contractor
The Health and Safety executive will be informed of the development.
Any phasing of the development will be established and the construction programme drawn up.
c. Site Set-Up
The site boundary will be secured with 1.8m high fencing. Lockable gates will be provided at the entrance to the site. Adequate signs will be erected to warn the public and to identify the construction site and the contractor.
Access for all operations will be from Station Road via the access lane adjacent to the Post Office and old Railway line.
A temporary turning head will be provided within the site to enable all vehicles to enter and exit the site in a forward direction. Precautions will be taken to prevent mud being deposited on the public highway with a wheel wash located near the site entrance. A temporary site compound will be set up on the site.
The site compound will contain welfare and administrative facilities and a storage area for materials. Bulk materials will be stored externally in neat, safe stacks. Higher value materials and small plant and equipment will be stored in secure storage.
Electricity, water and telephone connections will be made to the site compound.
A JCB will be located on site for the duration of the works together with a dumper vehicle. These vehicles will not leave the site until the works are complete.
The site will be stripped and cleared where required ready for the formation of the access and compound and the new buildings. Excavated material will be deposited at lower levels of the site and particularly to the Southern part of field 314758. No excavated material will be taken off site. Where excavation necessitates the removal of topsoil this will be carefully stripped and stockpiled for re-use later.
Earth moving/ground levelling will be carried out using appropriate plant. Any topsoil will be carefully stripped and stockpiled for re-use. All excavations will be supported as necessary and inspected before each shift.
All ladders will be removed at the end of each shift. All excavations will be fenced off to prevent people or plant from falling in.
The permanent access road through the Balladoyne Estate will be constructed in two stages. Firstly the road will be constructed up to basecourse level.
This road will not be used to give access to and within the site until the houses have been certified complete by Building Control.
The surface treatment will be added towards the end of construction when heavy vehicles no longer require access to the site and the houses are complete.
The foundations will be simple strip foundations. These will be dug with the JCB previously mentioned. The foundations will be mass concrete. The concrete will be delivered to site ready mixed. The delivery times will be co ordinated within school times to avoid any clash with school children at the access to Station Road.
Services will be laid within the access road. The service trenches and ducts will be laid during the construction of the access road. All foul connections to the existing sewer are within the site boundaries. Soakaways will be constructed for the disposal of surface water.
The ground floor will be constructed with a concrete floor slab. The walls will be timber frame with blockwork to the outer leaf and render or Manx stone external leaf. The roof’s will be constructed as part of the timber frame with timber trusses and natural slate and photovoltaic tiles facing South.
Scaffolding will be used to construct the buildings. A crane will be used to lift roof trusses into position. Ladders giving access to scaffolding will be removed at night.
Following first fixing of electrics and plumbing, the walls will be plastered, either as two layers or as plasterboard and skim. Second fixing and finishing will follow.
The final operation will be to landscape the development. This will involve paving, turfing or grass seeding private gardens and landscaping public areas.
It is anticipated that core working hours will be as follows:
0730 – 1730 weekdays 0730 – 1300 Saturday Sunday working is not anticipated but may be required for certain operations.
Deliveries will be limited to between 9.15am to 12 Noon and 1pm to 3pm and 4pm to 5.30pm. All vehicles will turn on site and enter and leave the site in a forward direction.
All vehicles involved in the construction of the buildings on site will not be allowed to park on adjacent roads or land.
A parking area will be set up on site to accommodate all vehicles.
Secure plant and material storage will be provided. There will be separate, secure storage for flammable liquids. No materials will be stacked outside the site boundary/fence. Plant will be secured to reduce the risk of vandalism/theft.
Materials will be ordered so that sufficient are available on site to continue construction but not too many as to cause wastage to reduce site working spaces.
Material packaging will be collected and disposed of in accordance with the Site Waste Management Plan.
All personnel on site will be expected to wear appropriate personal protective equipment.
Dust – Dust from construction activities will be minimised by keeping the cutting and grinding of materials on site to a minimum. Where cutting and grinding is unavoidable equipment and techniques to minimise dust will be used. Ground works carried out in any conditions creating dust will be damped down. Loading lorries and skips will be sheeted in before leaving site. Wheels of all vehicles leaving site will be cleaned if necessary so that mud is not spread onto Station Road.
Noise – Noise from /construction activities will be minimised. Shouting and swearing on site will not be tolerated and no radios will be allowed on site.
Pollution – Appropriate precautions will be taken to prevent pollution from fuels spills or spillages of other hazardous materials. Any pollution will be swiftly cleared up to prevent contamination of the groundwater.
The following buildings have a right of access over the access road:
There is a pedestrian right of way established beside Fo Chrenk up past the School that is also required to be maintained. There are no other rights of way that we are aware of. All rights of way will be maintained at all times.
See Appendix B and site plan Appendix C.
Appendix B is the Traffic Survey Summary and the data has been assessed and interpreted with the assistance of the Department of Transport Highways Division.
The peak times for South bound traffic occur in the morning between 8am and 9am which indicates that this would coincide with the start of school and travel to work.
The North bound peak traffic time is in the late afternoon between 5pm and 6pm which would indicate that this is due to people commuting home rather than picking up from school as school finishes much earlier.
The peak time traffic is consistent in both directions south bound and north bound and works out at an average of 3 vehicles per minute. The speed of vehicles is generally within the speed limit with only 7% of traffic speeding and this occurs between 12am and 1pm. 6.8% of the traffic is bus or trucks in both Northbound and Southbound directions.
Station Road is lightly trafficked and the proposed temporary access would not significantly affect traffic in this location.
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