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Proposed Re-Development
of
The Former 'Follies Cabaret Restaurant' Site
Harbour Road, Onchan, IoM.
into
'Howstrake Court', Sheltered Housing Apartment Complex
Design Statement.
| Received 8.6.06 | DolGE 06 00960 |
| Town and Country Planning Act 1999 PLANNING and BUILDING CONTROL DIRECTORATE | |
| Decision | Date and Officer Initials |
| Initial | |
| Appeal | Ref 21.3.07 |
| Amended | |
| Returned |
This is a resubmission of a revised scheme following the refusal of the previous application 06 / 00057 / B, by the Planning Committee. The scheme has developed and amended after detailed discussion with Mr A Holmes (DLGE Planning Officer) and has taken into account the reasons for refusal and the concerns of residents in adjoining properties.
The application site covers approx. 1.2 acres in area, and is located on Harbour Road in the village of Onchan. In the recent past, the site has been in use as 'Follies Cabaret Restaurant and Bar' but prior to this has been used as a restaurant, public house and was originally the Howstrake Hotel.
The site is accessed from Harbour Road at a single point at its North East boundary, and has a significant fall across the site from a little over 67.3m at the North East corner to 61.2m at the South West corner.
The existing building was a two storey structure which was amended and re-modelled a number of times in the past, including the removal of the majority of its pitched roof and its replacement with a part pitched and part flat roof. The building sat at the lower part of the site, within the South West corner, occupying approximately one fifth of the site area. The majority of the rest of the site, to the North East is tarmac, providing car parking spaces for the former restaurant.
At the start of the design process, the applicant's architect carried out consultations with a variety of interested parties to establish a basis for the design. These have included;
The comments raised and advice given within the above consultation meetings had been incorporated into the original proposal and has been developed following further consultation.
Mr Sewell, the DoT – Highways Division Design Engineer recommended a parking ratio of one car parking space per apartment for the occupants, with one space per two apartments for visitors. Ten percent of these spaces should be for disabled provision. In addition, a vision splay of 90m x 2.4m was recommended for the entrance point.
Mr Price has provided the location, depths and capacity of the existing public foul drainage sewers within the vicinity of the development. There is no record or evidence of public surface water sewerage within the site.
The proposal is a development of private sheltered housing apartments. It is proposed that the development will primarily be for the over 50's. However, the design of the majority of the apartments, with level thresholds, wide door openings, spacious hallways, and full wet rooms, will also be suitable for those members of the community with mobility problems or disabilities. For this reason, the applicant intends that the development should not exclusively be for over 50's only, but would also be available to those with disability or mobility problems. The design approach of the proposal is to create a high quality development with a pleasant open aspect for the residents.
The development takes the form of two blocks of four apartments and a single block of six apartments arranged around a curving access road. The blocks of four apartments are cut into the existing site, and are stepped in level to reflect the fall in the site. The design of these apartments has been amended, both by reducing the floor area and also the floor to floor dimension, which has had the effect of lowering the ridge level. In addition they have been repositioned further away from the boundary.
To the South West corner of the site is the main apartment block, which is situated within the footprint of the former building that occupied the site. This block is set at a lower ground floor level to the former building, and therefore the eaves level of the proposal is below the roof level of the previous building. This block has been reduced in size by removing 2 apartments at the third floor level to both ends. This has reduced the overall number of apartments by 4. In addition, the apartments at the side elevations at first floor level are partially within the roof space, meaning that the overall height of the building is less than two storeys at these locations. Consequently, the overall height and mass of this building has been significantly reduced from that which was previously proposed.
The balconies which were a feature of the previous application at all levels of the rear elevation have been removed at high level to allay the concerns of privacy issues for the neighbouring residents. There are only four small balconies left to this elevation, serving the first floor apartments, and these are situated such that the privacy of adjoining properties would be maintained. The reduction in the number of apartments by four has allowed the car parking provision to be reduced accordingly, which has also allowed the main block to be rotated, moving it significantly further from the boundary within the South-Western corner of the site. This, coupled to the reduction in height of the building at this location, has significantly reduced the possible impact of the development within this area.
The six-apartment block has been designed with a basement car park which houses 17 car parking spaces, together with secure storage areas for occupants' belongings and an MEA sub-station. This basement car park reduces the amount of surface parking within the development, allowing a more open landscaped garden approach.
The development now provides for a total of 26 apartments of varying sizes and configurations, giving choice for future residents. In addition to these apartments there is provision for wardens accommodation, a communal lounge/dining room with adjacent kitchen facilities for social gatherings and functions, together with an entrance foyer reception area with two disabled standard w.c.'s and a cleaner's room. The social gathering room gives access to a large communal garden located to the South West of the site.
The separate sub-station has been removed from the scheme and this has been incorporated within the basement car parking area of the 6 apartment block, in order to address the concerns of adjoining residents.
The total parking provision is 17 basement spaces with 23 surface spaces, giving a total of 40 car parking spaces. This accords with the recommendation of the DoT Highways Division, in providing 1 space per apartment for residents and 1 space per two apartments for visitors. A further space is provided for the duty warden. Of these 40 spaces, 9 are designated disabled spaces, meaning that the level of disabled parking provision is in excess of 20% of the spaces provided.
The surface parking areas are distributed throughout the development to break up the impact of the parking, and to provide parking of a disabled nature as close as possible to the entrances of the various apartment blocks. These parking spaces are broken up with landscaping between and around them to provide screening of the parked cars, both for the residents of the development and those surrounding the site.
The proposals are in a traditional architectural style in a mix of clay facing brickwork, rough cast render, tile hanging and half timbering, with a good level of detail. The style is reminiscent of the arts and crafts movement, of which there are a number of examples within the Onchan area. The development is designed within a human scale and a domestic architecture, which is familiar to both residents and the local community.
The type of development, as a sheltered housing complex, is a significantly better neighbour than the existing usage of the site, both from the viewpoint of the level of traffic generated, and from the significantly reduced noise and disturbance potential.
In conclusion, the applicant believes that the proposal has a positive contribution to make to the surrounding area and community, and addresses the reasons for refusal of the previous application. The proposal has improvement benefits from a visual perspective, from its reduction of the traffic load at this locality, and from the removal of the noise and disturbance caused by the previous use of the site, which had become an unfriendly neighbour in the recent past.
The applicant would respectfully ask the committee consider all of the above matters, when determining the application.
| Drawing Title: Site Location Plan | Kay K090/P/10-01 | • Chartered Architects • Planning Supervision • Project Management • Development Consultancy | ||
| Project: 'Howstroke Court' Sheltered Housing Apartment Complex, Former 'Follies Cabaret Restaurant' Site, Harbour Road, Onchan, IoM. | ||||
| Client: Howstroke Developments Ltd | Scale: 1:1250 | Date: Dec.'05 | Dwg.No. K090/P/10-01 | Rev.: - |
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