DEC Officer Report

Application No.: 21/00034/B Applicant: Mr Neil Birchall Proposal: Erection of a replacement detached dwelling with integral garage and associated parking Site Address: The Haven Arbory Road Castletown Isle Of Man IM9 1ND Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken: 27.01.2021 Site Visit: 27.01.2021 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted

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 proposal complies with General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan and the Residential Design Guidance

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to drawings 1903-01, 1903-02, 1903-03, 1903-04 and 1903-05 all received on 8th January, 2021. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

None _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report THE SITE

1.1 The site is the residential curtilage of an existing dwelling which sits on the south western side of Arbory Road between Farrant's Way and the southern swimming pool and Castle

• Rushen High School. Ormly sits to the south east and Norwood to the north west and opposite is the curtilage of Westham including Westham Cottage.
• 1.2 The application property is unusually small: it is a hipped roofed bungalow compared with the two and a half storey pair of Ormly and Westfield which are Victorian properties with vertically proportioned windows and moulding and eaves bracket detailing on the front elevation. The side of Ormly which faces the application site is blank without windows or doors and there is a small link which joins the two properties. Norwood is also taller than the application property, being two storey and with no windows or doors in the main side gable but there is a rear annex which contains a ground floor window.
• 1.3 The existing property sits in a line with the other properties in the row to the front but projects less far to the rear compared with Ormly and Norwood. The property currently has a ground floor window in the elevation facing Norwood. THE PROPOSAL

2.1 Proposed is the replacement of the dwelling with a new house. The footprint of the proposed will be similar to that of the existing although slightly wider, leaving 1.25m to the boundary with Norwood and 3.8m to the adjacent property itself compared with 1.9m and 4.3m respectively, and reducing the distance from the dwelling to Ormly from 1.6m to 1m. - 2.2 The proposed dwelling will feature a small recess from the forwardmost part of the building which is in line with the others in the row, to step back to provide an entrance porch and garage door. The house will be two storey under a roof pitched at 30 degrees with no windows in the wall facing Norwood and one ground floor window in the gable facing Ormly. - 2.3 The proposed dwelling takes its design lead from Norwood and is fractionally (400mm) lower than this property with the same peaked elements in the front eaves and the same slated roof and similar array of windows. The property remains significantly lower (2.62m) than Ormly. The roof will be partly hipped unlike Norwood. - 2.4 Rooflights are shown installed on the rear plane. - 2.5 The existing vehicular access will be retained but with the existing roadside wall reduced in height to 1050mm and the driveway (7.3m wide by 6.5m long) which will accommodate two full sized vehicles in addition to the integral garage. - 2.6 The applicant describes the condition of the existing dwelling as dilapidated and poorly insulated. PLANNING POLICY

3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Area Plan for the East (2020) as Predominantly Residential. Westham and its curtilage is identified as Woodland. All are outwith the Conservation Area. - 3.2 As such, the following parts of the Strategic Plan are relevant:

General Policy 2: "Development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and proposals in the appropriate Area Plan and with other policies of this Strategic Plan will normally be permitted, provided that the development:

• (b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them;
• (c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape;

• (f) incorporates where possible existing topography and landscape features, particularly trees and sod banks;

• (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;
• (h) provides satisfactory amenity standards in itself, including where appropriate safe and convenient access for all highway users, together with adequate parking, servicing and manoeuvring space;
• (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways".

3.4 The Department has recently published the Residential Design Guidance (March 2019) which provides advice on the design of new houses and extensions to existing property as well as how to assess the impact of such development on the living conditions of those in adjacent residential property. This provides advice on the provision of vehicular parking, advising that some greenery should be retained in a frontage and not all of it should be hardsurfaced. PLANNING HISTORY - 4.1 Planning approval was granted for an extension to the property under 95/00005/B.

4.2 Both adjacent properties have been the subject of alterations and extensions none of which is relevant to the consideration of the current application but demonstrate that both properties are larger than the existing and proposed dwellings on the application site. REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Highway Services advise that the development will have no significant negative impact on highway safety, network efficiency and/or parking (02.02.21). ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The site is designated for residential use and as such the principle of the replacement of the existing is acceptable. Indeed, given the disproportionately short height of the existing, the proposal to replace it with something more akin to the dwellings on each side will improve the appearance of the terrace and as the proposed dwelling is designed to match Norwood immediately alongside, there will be no adverse impact on the character or appearance of the area as a result of the proposed works.

6.2 In terms of the impact on the living conditions of those in adjacent properties, there are no windows proposed which look directly towards either of the dwellings to the sides and there is a significant distance between the rear of the proposed dwelling and the property to the south west - 17 Farrant's Park which is 32m away from the existing property and will be even further

• 32.5m - from the rear of the proposed dwelling albeit the proposed rear elevation is two storey. These distances ensure that there will be no adverse impact on the living conditions of those in adjacent property in accordance with the Residential Design Guidance.

6.3 The provisions for access and car parking adhere to the recommendations in the Strategic Plan (2 spaces per dwelling).

CONCLUSION

7.1 The proposal complies with General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan and the Residential Design Guidance. INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019, the following persons are automatically interested persons:

• (a) the applicant (including an agent acting on their behalf);
• (b) any Government Department that has made written representations that the Department considers material;
• (c) the Highways Division of the Department of Infrastructure;
• (d) Manx National Heritage where it has made written representations that the Department considers material;

• (e) Manx Utilities where it has made written representations that the Department considers material;
• (f) the local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated; and
• (g) a local authority adjoining the authority referred to in paragraph (f) where that adjoining authority has made written representations that the Department considers material. 8.2 The decision maker must determine:

• o whether any other comments from Government Departments (other than the Department of Infrastructure Highway Services Division) are material; and
• o whether there are other persons to those listed in Article 4(2) who should be given Interested Person Status.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management 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

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 25.02.2021 Determining officer

Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management

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