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The site represents the curtilage of an existing farm dwelling situated on the southern side of the B40. The site sits in a roughly triangular shaped field and is a bungalow which has recently had permission for extension (see below).
The site lies within an area designated on the 1982p as white land, that is, not designated for development.
The dwelling was first permitted as an agricultural dwelling under PA 88/4477. An application to remove the agricultural tie was refused under PA 04/0426, stables were permitted under PA 04/0471 and an agricultural shed permitted under PA 05/92268 and extensions to the dwelling permitted under PA 06/1005 following a refusal of an application for extensions - PA 06/0137.
Now proposed is the conversion of the existing integral garage to additional living accommodation (a bedroom, with the existing adjacent bedroom being changed to a bathroom). The only external change involved the bricking up of the garage door and the insertion of a window in there instead.
The Society for the Preservation of the Manx Countryside and Environment express concern that this proposal represents a further enlargement of the property, contrary to the decision in respect of the first of the applications for the extension of the property and considering the property has an agricultural tie.
There is some suggestion from The Society for the Preservation of the Manx Countryside and Environment that because the occupation of the property is tied to agriculture, there should be a restriction on the size of the property and indeed this is referred to in the refusal of PA 06/0137 which proposed the same extension as was permitted under PA 06/1005 but with a single storey sun room and the conversion of the garage to living accommodation. In my view, the change between the application which was permitted and that which was refused are so slight as not to warrant different decisions. However, this proposal to convert the garage takes the permitted scheme one step towards the scheme which was refused. A relatively recent appeal against refusal of the erection of double garage with farm office and conversion of roofspace to living accommodation in Kirk Michael (PA 05/1365) was permitted on appeal and the Inspector commented that "a farmer's family should not be denied reasonable accommodation, compared with the general population, simply on the basis of the location of their business". In this case the proposal will simply add a bathroom and enlarge a bedroom. In the previous application the planning officer noted that he understood that the applicant had four children living at home.
The applicant could, once the existing garage is converted, erect a further garage under the provisions of the pdo. it would be possible to suspend such provisions, however, the opportunities for building such a garage are limited, if the applicant wished to have a replacement garage, and if one were erected under these provisions, I can see no reason why this would be objectionable.
The Department of Transport and the local authority are, by virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2005, paragraph 6 (5) (c) and (d), considered "interested persons" and as such should be afforded party status.
The Society for the Preservation of the Manx Countryside and Environment are not directly affected by the proposal and as such should not be afforded party status in this instance.
Recommended Decision: Permitted
Date of Recommendation: 10.09.2007
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions R : Reasons for refusal
C 1. The development hereby permitted shall commence before the expiration of four years from the date of this notice.
C 2. This permission relates to the conversion of the existing garage to living accommodation as shown in drawing reference 01 Rev B, 20 and 21 all received on 25th July, 2007.
C 3. The dwelling as altered shall remain subject to the following condition, which was attached to the original approval for the dwelling, that is - the occupation of the dwelling must be limited to persons whose employment or latest employment is or was employment in agriculture and including also the dependants of such persons as aforesaid.
N 1. The Chief Fire Officer recommends the installation of mains wired interconnected domestic smoke detection.
I confirm that this decision accords with Government Circular Nos 44/05 (Delegation of Functions to Director of Planning and Building Control) and 47/05 (Delegation of Functions to Senior Planning Officer)
Decision Made : Permitted Date : 11/9/07 Signed : M. I. McCauley Director of Planning and Building Control
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