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Tibi Hair Design is a hairdressing business which, when it was based in the Mount Murray Hotel, also offered complementary facilities such as body massage, manicures, pedicures, and facials. Since the fire at these premises, Tibi has been operating from a shared hairdressing salon in Castletown which is not ideal due not least, to the limited floor space and the fact that some of the facilities are down a flight of stairs which prevents any disabled customers or those with limited mobility visiting the premises. The ambience and upmarket feeling certain clients felt at the Mt Murray did not and could not manifest itself in Castletown and many premium customers who followed Tibi were not happy with the new location and facilities. There were also many complaints regarding parking and the concept of sitting in a fish bowl.
We have been actively looking for alternative premises but have been unable to find anything within Castletown which is suitable.
With the exception of Callow's Yard the majority of properties investigated were nothing short of derelict, requiring a massive cash injection to bring the property up to the level of a professional Hair and Beauty Salon. Existing customers, many of whom are Castletown residents, openly stated "if you move to Callow's Yard, we will stop coming to you". Including Tibi, there are five hairdressing salons in Castletown, all struggling to exist in what a lot of people are describing as a "ghost town". In financial terms, Tibi's turnover in Castletown is down by 50% of that at the Mt Murray. We are no longer registered for VAT, which is a loss of revenue to Government.
The Old Market House has become available and we can see this working well for us as a hairdressing salon with accompanying, complementary therapies such as reiki, personal training, body massage, manicure, pedicure and facials, as well as offering something for the community of Ballasalla which whilst it already has a hairdresser's this has limited parking available.
We are aware that the site lies within an area of industrial use on the Area Plan for the South adopted in 2013 which brings with it a presumption that a hairdresser's, which falls into the retail or shop category of the use classes, may be considered to be unacceptable or incompatible here. We understand that in an ideal world, town and village centres should be where retail and commercial uses are concentrated where such are of an appropriate scale and nature, and that this provides for a convenient and sustainable environment for people to do their retail and leisure pursuits whilst concentrating the provision of parking for all of these activities and also providing knock on benefits to other retail, commercial and leisure operators by having more of the passing public in the vicinity and potentially using their facilities. We are also aware that in general terms, other developments which are not suited to a town or village centre environment and/or which do not benefit from the passing public - such as industrial activities or those selling things which are inappropriate due to their size, weight or the quantities in which they are sold, are
encouraged to locate in other areas, primarily industrial estates and such as Balthane which accommodates a number of heavier industrial processes, for example Manx Metals, JCK and their associated recycling facility.
However, there are in Balthane uses which are not heavy industrial uses – for example the car sales outlets, tile centre, and motorcycle sales outlet. These all upgrade the overall character and appearance of the area, albeit that they may be operations which are appropriate to an industrial location rather than in a town or village centre location. There is also, however a café which was approved, we understand, to support the users of the estate and which is very successful, attracting customers who may not have any other interest in visiting Balthane. There has also been planning approval granted for the use of an industrial unit at Aalin Court (PA 10/01179/C) within Balthane and that other fitness-related developments have been allowed in other industrial locations, such as alongside Pets At Home in Spring Valley (PA 12/01532/B), White Hoe (13/00334/C) which we feel indicate that some flexibility can be applied to new uses within industrial estates. We understand that planning approval has been granted for beauty and health therapists to work from home where their premises are considered suitable.
The environment
In support of this, it is also relevant that the existing building is not used for industrial purposes and its name would suggest that it was originally a house. In addition, the application site is at the entrance to the estate and comprises a mixture of residential, retail (Athol Garage) and agricultural with little or no true industrial processes or use. As such, we would suggest that the industrial designation does not necessarily reflect what is on the ground or which may be permissible here. Planning permission has in the past been granted for the additional use of the house as a fish and chip shop (PA 99/01072/B) which was taken up. There are 13 parking spaces available on the site for staff and customers. Initially, we may only have three to four customers plus three staff occupying a maximum of seven of the available parking spaces. However, as we believe the business will expand when supplementary services are developed we could have up to ten vehicles on the premises at any one time.
At the Mt Murray, there was a total of four staff. In Castletown there is only one permanent staff member plus one part time plus a contractor. We would hope to return to four full time staff at Balthane.
Benefit to Ballasalla
We also believe that Ballasalla is a settlement which would benefit from additional commercial investment. In this respect there are limited, if any opportunities for a hairdresser's or indeed any other commercial operation which has adequate parking in Ballasalla. This is the reason we believe why planning approval was granted for the conversion of one of the dwellings in Silverburn estate to a dentist's. The proposal will create more jobs than are currently available within the premises and create additional interest in the village. A number of current clients are based within Balthane and we understand that some of them have indicated that they have had
difficulties finding a parking space in Castletown when they have had an appointment.
Conclusion
We fully support the principle of reserving land for industrial processes and ensuring that there is sufficient land for such processes in the right locations. However, we believe that the application property is not, and never has been industrial and is located within a mixed use area which is mostly not industrial and that our proposed hair, health and beauty facility would complement and enhance the area without any adverse impact on the industrial uses or designation.
Paul Blake. Director Tibi Hair Designs Ltd. 05 February 2015
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