Heritage Homes Supporting Information

Heritage Homes Ltd

Erection of 6 Dwellings with Access Drives, Landscaping and Drainage Works and Creation of Public Footpaths, Groudle Road, Onchan

Supporting Information

1. Recent planning application PA 05/00737 proposed six dwellings on a site immediately to the north of Groudle Road and permission was refused by the Planning Committee because the residential plots extended into land which is designated as public open space by both the Onchan Local Plan and by a legal agreement associated with a previous application. This application seeks to address those reasons for refusal by proposing a scheme which is similar but with plots which are wholly outside the designated public open space.

1. The site is immediately to the north of Groudle Road and directly east of the existing dwellings of Groudle View. At its north eastern corner the site adjoins an electricity substation site and the dwelling “The Old Toll House”. The northern site boundary in part adjoins the wooded area of Groudle Glen, with narrow sections that extend to the river to allow for the laying of drainage pipes and the creation of a footpath.

1. The site is predominantly within an area that is designated for Proposed Low Density Housing in Parkland (LDHP) by the Onchan Local Plan, but also includes an area which is designated as woodland; the residential plots as now proposed will be wholly within the area designated for residential use, with parts of the woodland area only included within the application site so as to allow the laying of drainage pipes and the creation of public footpaths. The plots will also be wholly outside of the area designated as public open space by the legal agreement associated with PA 99/0430, with an additional public footpath link being provided to Groudle Road at the eastern end of the site.

1. Paragraph 4.15 of the Plan refers to the application site, and suggests that the roadside hedge should be retained/reinstated and that new dwellings should not be visible from Groudle Road. Policy O/RES/P/4 of the Plan reiterates this view, adding that no development should be erected within 80

metres of the river and that the northern part of the site should include public open space. The new dwellings will be more than 80 metres from the river, the roadside sod hedge is to be retained and reinstated where necessary (save for access points), and the land to the north of the proposed plots (which includes land which is zoned for residential development) will be set aside for public open space in accordance the legal agreement attached to PA 99/0430.

1. Planning approval in principle has previously been granted under PA 97/00772 for the residential development of an area which included the application site, with detailed approval being granted under PA 99/0430. Although house types were not shown for the 6 plots within the application site, the appeal inspector for PA 99/0430 concluded that two storey dwellings at the "Groudle Road frontage" of the site would be acceptable.

1. The proposed plots and dwellings are within an area which is designated by the Onchan Local Plan for Low Density Housing in Parkland (LDHP). The Planning Circular for LDHP states, amongst other things, that each dwelling must be set within at least 1 acre of its own grounds so as to sit "comfortably and naturally" in a landscaped setting which acknowledges existing ground contours. The space available for development outside of the public open space (as defined by legal agreement) is approximately 5.68 acres; the topography of the site and the space available for development were obviously considered by the Inspector for PA 99/0430, who concluded that 6 plots would be acceptable on the site. Indeed, the topography would have been taken into account when the land was designated for residential development. As a result of ensuring that the plots do not extend into designated open space, and with providing a previously unforeseen public footpath link onto Groudle Road, four of the plots have areas of slightly less than an acre. In visual and practical terms the difference between the plots of an acre each and those of slightly less will be negligible.

1. The slope of the site will ensure that the dwellings are set well below the level of Groudle Road and they will therefore have little visual impact from that direction; the slope will also necessitate an element of "cut and fill" for each dwelling and a levelling of the areas in front of the dwellings on Plots 3A to 6A as shown on the submitted drawings. When viewed from the more distant

Whitebridge Road direction the differing distances between the dwellings helps the layout to avoid an overly uniform appearance and removes the need to build on the steepest part of the site.

1. Different detailing, materials and colours will be used on the dwellings so as

to introduce visual variety to the site, particularly when seen from the more distant viewpoints to the north west. New sod hedges will be introduced to define the boundaries between plots, as well as the northern boundary with the public open space and the eastern boundary with the public footpath, and tree planting will take place within plots. An existing hedge, which is in poor repair, is to be removed from the centre of plot 4A.

1. The access arrangements for the development are as previously proposed

(only plot boundaries have been altered, not the dwelling or driveway positions), and the Department of Transport Highways Division has previously expressed satisfaction with the proposal. Combined drainage from all six plots will be taken by a single underground pipe to the Groudle River, where it will discharge via a headwall and spillway. Each dwelling will be connected to its own private sewage treatment plant, with the environmentally acceptable treated effluent being discharged along with surface water. Consultation with the Environmental Protection Officer responsible for water has shown the proposed standard of treatment to be acceptable in this instance.

1. A footpath currently runs through the public open space on the northern side

of the existing housing development before reaching the boundary of Groudle Glen in the vicinity of the proposed plots 4A & 5A. From this point there is no formal connection with the footpath which runs through the glen, only a series of trails which lead across and down a very steep bank. It is proposed to formalise the connection with the glen footpath, providing a new link to the north of plot 4A. The new path will be unsurfaced to match the existing footpaths and will include steps where necessary. Should the development take place a footpath will also be able to continue through the public open space and connect to Groudle Road at the eastern end of the site.