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2.1 The application site is part of a larger area of land to both the north and south of Maine Road which is allocated for a 'Predominantly Residential' use in the extant Port Erin Local Plan adopted by Tynwald 12 December 1990. 2.2 Paragraph 7.1 of Section 7.0, Car Parking, of the Local Plan refers to the presence of off-street parking at four locations in Port Erin. One of these is Maine Road but the description is not site specific. Policy Paragraph 7.2 sets out that these car parks should be respected as being essential to Port Erin's off-street parking provision. Policy Paragraphs 7.5 and 7.7 identify that an average 1.5 parking spaces should be provided with proposed residential development but Policy Paragraph 7.8 advises that the standards may not be universally applied and that parking provision in redevelopments or on village centre sites will be specific to the development proposed and dependent on the number of bed spaces and the population generated. Policy Paragraph 7.17 recommends that the parking standards should be applied with discretion where parking is either impractical or undesirable. Paragraph 8.4 of Section 8.0, Traffic and Pedestrians, identifies that the highway network of Port Erin is appropriate for its use because the volume of through traffic is minimal as a result of its geographical location. 2.3 Transport and Communications, Strategic Policy 10, of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan sets out that new development should be located where it will minimise journeys, especially by private car, make the best use of public transport, encourage walking and not adversely affect highway safety for all road users. General Policy 2 of the Plan advises that proposed development should incorporate safe and convenient access for all highway users, together with adequate parking, servicing and manoeuvring spaces in such a way that it does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety. The preamble to Transport Policies 1 and 2 advises that the location and nature of development influences the mode and extent of travel which is undertaken and therefore that development should be located within or contiguous to existing built-up
centres so that people will be encouraged to walk, cycle or use public transport rather than private cars. Policies 1 and 2 then set out that new development should, where possible, be located close to existing public transport facilities and routes, including pedestrian, cycle and rail routes, and that their design should make provision for bus, pedestrian and cycle routes including linking into existing systems. The preamble to Transport Policy 7 sets out that the level of car parking provision in new developments is critical to creating more sustainable developments and that the longer term target is to reduce the level of provision in town centre developments by introducing measures such as secure cycle stores in apartment developments. However, in the shorter term, Transport Policy 7 sets out that parking provision should be in accordance with the parking standards which recommend that apartments with two or more bedrooms should be provided with two parking spaces but that this level can be relaxed in town centre and brownfield residential developments where the development is within a reasonable distance of bus routes and where a reduced level of parking will not result in unacceptable levels of on-street parking in the locality.
Bryan G Hall
consulting civil & transportation planning engineers
09-200-001 F
3.1 The application site is situated to the north of Maine Road, some 40.0 metres to the east of its junction with the Promenade and to the north of the centre of Port Erin as shown on the 1:2,500 scale plan attached at Appendix BGH1. 3.2 Maine Road is a residential access road which provides access to Princess Towers to the west of the site, together with a couple of dozen dwellings to the east of the site. It is adopted and maintained by the Department of Transport over a distance of some 35.0 metres from its junction with the Promenade and to the east of this, it is privately owned over a distance of some 225.0 metres to its junction with Harrison Street. Some 140.0 metres to the east, it meets Maine Avenue and Bridson Street at a crossroads junction. Maine Avenue extends into Harrison Street, to the east, and Bridson Street meets Bay View Road to the south. 3.3 The Town Hierarchy of Roads for Port Erin in the Department of Transport Policy Relating to the Hierarchy of the Island's Road Network identifies the Promenade as a Local Distributor type of road in the vicinity of its junction with Maine Road and Bay View Road as a District Distributor type of road. 3.4 The carriageway of Maine Road is some 5.8 metres wide in the vicinity of the application site where it has footways to both sides which are some 1.8/1.9 metres wide. At its approach to the Promenade, it reduces in width to some 4.8 metres. On-street waiting is prohibited at all times to both sides of the adopted section of Maine Road and it is lit along its length, including its unadopted section. 3.5 Maine Road meets the Promenade at an unmarked simple priority junction where traffic on the Promenade has priority. Visibility to the north for drivers of vehicles emerging from Maine Road is restricted to some $2.4 \times 13.0$ metres by the curtilage wall of the adjoining property but they can see traffic approaching the junction when it is some 60.0 metres distant. They can also see traffic
approaching from the south when it is more than some 60.0 metres distant. On-street waiting is prohibited at all times to the east of the Promenade and therefore visibility for emerging drivers is not obscured by parked vehicles. 3.6 There is an adopted service road opposite the application site which links Maine Road with Bay View Road and hence provides a more direct route when walking between the application development, Bay View Road and the village centre uses and which eliminates the need for pedestrians to use the Promenade. 3.7 Better Places to Live, By Design, recommends that a good starting point when considering the accessibility of proposed residential developments is to identify both the range of facilities which are available within a comfortable walking distance of the development and the range of opportunities which are available to reach more distant facilities by public transport. A comfortable walking distance is considered to be some 800.0 metres which takes some ten minutes. The plan at Appendix BGH4 shows the range of facilities in Port Erin which are within some 400.0 metres of the proposed development, equivalent to a walking time of five minutes. This is half the recommended distance and includes the vast majority of the central area, including the village centre uses between Bay View Road and Church Road and along Church Road, together with the bus terminus. The shops along Station Road together with the railway station are just outside this area and hence within some $400.0-500.0$ metres walking distance which will take some five-six minutes. 3.8 Guidelines for Providing for Journeys on Foot, published by the Institution of Highways and Transportation, 2000, recommends that the desirable walking distance to town centres is some 200.0 metres, the acceptable walking distance is some 400.0 metres and the preferred maximum is some 800.0 metres. The northern part of the centre, including the Shoprite supermarket and parade of shops are some 200.0 metres from the proposed development and the southern end of the centre is little more than some 400.0 metres. The bus terminus, which provides hourly services to Douglas calling at Port St
Mary and Castletown, together with a more infrequent service to Peel, is some 350.0 metres and therefore within the recommended walking distance of some 400.0 metres as recommended by Guidelines for Planning for Public Transport in Developments. People will walk twice the distance to railway stations than they will walk to bus stops and therefore again, the railway station, with its restricted services between April and November to Douglas, is some 550.0 metres from the proposed development and hence well within that recommended walking distance. 3.9 The proposed development is therefore in a highly sustainable location which is within comfortable walking distance of shops and services in the village centre, the bus terminus and the railway station. The location of the development therefore encourages its residents to make journeys on foot or by public transport rather than simply electing to use private cars.
4.1 The application proposals comprise a development of some 16 two bedroom apartments of which four are classified as 'affordable', together with some eighteen parking spaces and a secure store for cycles. 4.2 Access to the proposed development for both vehicles and pedestrians, is proposed from Maine Road at an access which incorporates visibility splays of $2.4 \times 35.0$ metres to both the east and west in accordance with the advice contained in Manx Roads, A Guide to the Design of Residential Roads, Footpaths, Parking and Services. 4.3 The TRICS database shows that privately owned apartments typically generate fewer vehicular movements than do privately owned houses. The extracts attached at Appendix BGH3 show that apartments typically generate some 0.316 vehicular movements during the morning peak hour and some 0.283 vehicular movements during the evening peak hour. Throughout the day, they typically generate some 2.203 vehicular movements. A development of sixteen apartments will therefore typically generate some five vehicular movements during both the morning and evening peak hours and some 35 throughout the day. During the morning peak hour, some four vehicles will leave the development and one will arrive there, and during the evening peak hour, a couple will leave the development and three will arrive there. This traffic will use Maine Road and its junction with the Promenade and the level of increase will not materially change the way in which both Maine Road and its junction operate, and hence it will not be detrimental to either the safety or the convenience of other road users. 4.4 The application site is in a sustainable location on the edge of the centre of Port Erin which is well within the recommended walking distances of shops and services, the bus terminus and the railway station. Residents of the development will therefore have a choice available when making journeys and need not use private cars when making journeys to either the centre or other
more distant locations. 4.5 The Isle of Man Strategic Plan identifies that car parking provision in new development is critical to creating more sustainable development and the provision of eighteen parking spaces will allow one space for each apartment together with a couple for visitors or for some apartments to have more than one space. Maine Road is an access road and therefore appropriate for occasional short term parking associated with visitors to the development if spaces are not available within it.
5.1 This Statement forms part of the application of Heritage Homes who are seeking full planning permission to construct sixteen apartments with eighteen parking spaces and a secure cycle store on land to the north of Maine Road, Port Erin. 5.2 The site is in an area which is allocated for a 'Predominantly Residential' use and which is very close to the centre of Port Erin and well within the recommended walking distances to its shops, services, bus terminus and railway station. 5.3 The development as proposed conforms with the policies and guidance of both the Port Erin Local Plan and the Isle of Man Strategic Plan. It is in a sustainable location and incorporates eighteen parking spaces so that parking on Maine Road will be unnecessary and high levels of car ownership will not be encouraged. 5.4 The pedestrian and vehicular traffic likely to be generated will be accommodated on the local highway network without detriment to the safety or convenience of other road users. 5.5 Planning permission for the development as proposed should not therefore be withheld for reasons of inadequate parking provision or harm to the safety of road users in the vicinity.
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