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The site represents the land adjacent to the Corner Filling Station at the junction of Waterloo Road and Approach Road, Ramsey, which is a parcel of developed land located on a corner plot with Waterloo Road to the south of the site and Approach Road to the east.
The application site is within an area recognised as being an area of 'Predominately Residential', under the Ramsey Local Plan. The site is not within a Conservation Area. The site is adjacent to Registered Buildings, Lough House (Nr 88), northeast of the application site, as are 37 - 43 Mysore Cottages (Nr10); and the Ramsey Youth Centre (nr 87) is to the northwest of the site.
The following policies are considered relevant in the consideration of this application:
The following previous planning applications are considered relevant in the assessment and determination of this application:
Approval in principle for the demolition of existing building and erection of a block of sixteen apartments with associated on site parking - 08/01680/A - PENDING CONSIDERATION
Retrospective application for the use of part of garage for the operation of a taxi phone dispatch centre - 06/01469/C - REFUSED on the following ground:-
Conversion of part car showroom and filling station to create car repair, tyres and exhaust centre 99/00527/B - APPROVED
Alterations to provide new facilities - 90/01932/B - APPROVED
The application seeks approval in principle for the demolition of existing buildings and erection of six town houses with associated on site car parking.
The Ramsey Commissioners have deferred making a recommendation until the following information has been submitted:- "The submitted drawings indicate that access to the car parking has been indicated to the rear of the site however it is the Commissioners' understanding that such access would be over private land serving existing properties and garaging. No indication has been provided by the adjacent land owner to allow vehicular access over adjacent private land. It would be expected that written agreement should be submitted as part of this application to enable satisfactory car parking arrangements to be considered.
No details have been submitted in respect of the height of the proposed town houses in relation to the existing properties adjacent to the proposal site in order that an indication of the scale of the proposal can be determined."
Highways Division:- "Do not oppose" The owner/occupier of 57 Waterloo Road, Ramsey, has no objection to the application at this stage but has some concerns about how the parking spaces will be accessed.
The owner/occupier of 22 St. Pauls Mews, Ramsey, has no objection to the application but has some concerns about how heavy construction machinery will be accommodated, and Waterloo Road will be unavailable, and concerns that the cul-de-sac to the rear will be affected by traffic, preventing visitor parking etc.
The owners/occupiers of 23 St. Pauls Mews, Ramsey object to the application on grounds which can be summarised as: three storey height would not be in keeping with surrounding properties; would result in overlooking; the rear lane is owned by their landlords, Abbey properties Ltd, to whom they pay a ground rent for their garage and the rear access; require access is required at all times; and lack of parking spaces which would result in an overspill into the streets which are already unable to provide sufficient spaces.
The owners/occupiers of 43 Mysore Cottages, Waterloo Road, Ramsey, have objections to the application which can be summarised as: three storey height would be overbearing and not sympathetic with the adjacent Registered Buildings; and the rear lane is privately owned, why can't the development gain direct access from the abutting public highways?
The owners/occupiers of 41 Mysore Cottages, Waterloo Road, Ramsey, have objections to the application which can be summarised as; the existing rear privately owned lane can not stand the current volume of traffic; main sewer below had to be replaced recently after collapse; access should be off Waterloo Road and/or Approach Road; and the proposed height would be out of proportion to the two adjacent Registered Buildings.
The owners/occupiers of Lough House, Approach Road, Ramsey, have objections to the application which can be summarised as; inadequate parking provision, the area already has issues with parking congestion and overflow from the scheme could not be absorbed; overdevelopment of the site; more than two storey buildings would be out of keeping with the Registered Buildings.
Abbey Properties Limited has no objection to the application at this stage but has indicated that permission has to be sought to allow access to the rear of the development through their land; at the time of writing they have not been contacted by the developer or their agents for permission.
A resident of Seacliffe, Old Castletown Road, Braddan, has not objected to the application which can be summarised as: site is within a residential area; and the preference is for application 08/01681/a which accords more with Strategic Policy and General Policy 2.
Due to the zoning of the site, the following policies are relevant for consideration:-
Strategic Policy 1: Development should make the best use of resources by:
Strategic Policy 2: New development will be located primarily within our existing towns and villages, or, where appropriate, in sustainable urban extensions(2) of these towns and villages. Development will be permitted in the countryside only in the exceptional circumstances identified in paragraph 6.3.
Strategic Policy 4: Proposals for development must:
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:
Environment Policy 42: New development in existing settlements must be designed to take account of the particular character and identity, in terms of buildings and landscape features of the immediate locality. Inappropriate backland development, and the removal of open or green spaces which contribute to the visual amenity and sense of place of a particular area will not be permitted. Those open or green spaces which are to be preserved will be identified in Area Plans.
Transport Policy 7: The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards.
"In considering whether to grant planning approval for development which affects a registered building or its setting and in considering whether to grant registered building consent for any works, the Department shall have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses.
Registered building consent is required for the building's alteration in any way which would affect its special architectural or historic character. There will be a general presumption against alteration or extension of registered buildings, except where a convincing case can be made, against the criteria set out in this section, for such proposals.
Applicants for registered building consent for alteration or extension to a registered building must be able to justify their proposals. They will be required to show why the works which would affect the character of the registered building are desirable or necessary and they should provide full information to enable the Department to assess the likely impact of their proposals on the special architectural or historic interest of the building and on its setting. Where registered buildings are the subject of successive applications for alteration or extension, consideration will also be given to the cumulative affect upon the building's special interest as a result of several minor works which may individually seem of little consequence."
Material planning matters which required consideration are:-
The site is within an area zoned as predominately residential. The existing filling station/garage has an adverse visual impact upon the street scene and upon the adjoining properties. It is therefore considered that residential development of this site would be acceptable, beneficial and more appropriate than the previous uses.
Visual impact upon the street scene and the Registered Buildings The application is only in principle, and therefore we do not have a full detailed plan showing all elevations of the proposal. The submission does include a typical elevation of the proposal when viewed from Waterloo Road. The proposal would appear to have taken the appearance of the neighbouring property Ramsey Youth Centre which is a Registered Building, and also the Mysore Cottages into account. It is considered the appearance of the proposal as show would be appropriate and would be in keeping with the adjacent properties and upon the visual appearance of the street scene.
The main issue with the proposal would be the impact upon the adjacent properties due to the massing and proportions of the proposal. From studying plans which have been submitted for the Ramsey Youth Centre in the past, the maximum ridge height of the property is 8 metres (main hall roof). The part of the building closest to Mysore Cottages has a ridge height of 5.8 metres. There are no scaled plans of Mysore Cottages and therefore it is not possible to give a precise height, however, it is considered the Cottages would appear to be approximately 5.5 / 6 metres in height.
The application proposes six town houses and from the submitted indicative plan the town houses would be set over three storeys. The indicative elevation shows a roof ridge of 12.6 metres. At this stage due to the amount of detail submitted it is not considered a full assessment can be made on the massing or proportion in relation to the neighbouring properties or upon the street scene.
Regarding the potential impact upon the adjoining Registered Buildings, Planning Policy Statement 1/01 - POLICY RB/5 and Environmental Policy 42 are required to be considered. As stated the application is only an approval in principle, therefore without full elevation and plan details it is not possible to make a full assessment, however, It is considered the style, design and the proposed finish would be appropriate and in keeping with the adjacent Registered Buildings and the street scene.
The Conservation Officer has also considered the proposal and has no objection to the design. Residential amenities for future occupiers A concern with the application relates to the amount of external amenity space each dwelling would have. Each of the six town houses ( 3 / 4 bedrooms) would only have a small front garden and no rear garden or yard. It is considered that the properties as shown on the indicative plans would be family sized dwellings and the proposal would not provide satisfactory external amenity space for dwellings of this size and nature. Consideration has been given to the fact that the site is within a few minutes' walk of the promenade and beach, however, it is still considered unacceptable.
The internal amenities for each dwelling would appear to be acceptable, although there are no full plans of each floor, only the ground and first floor have been shown on the indicative plan.
Highway / parking issues As indicated by Transport Policy 7 all new development must comply with the Isle of Man Strategic Plan Parking Standards. In the case of this development each dwelling is required to have two spaces. The proposed plans do show 12 parking spaces, however it is considered that parking space 7 does not provide a space which measures metres and therefore would be unacceptable for a modern day car. Additionally, there is concern with parking space 12. The space would be located 0.2 metres from the rear door of town house 3 . This would result in the occupier of Nr 3 being unable to access or exit if a car were to park in this space.
Also, due to the parking layout, the occupiers of Nr 4, 5 \& 6 would have to squeeze past any vehicles parked in spaces to get to the rear door of their dwelling. This would be especially difficult if the occupiers had bags of shopping or children (push chairs etc).
Overall, it is considered that while the indicative plan shows 12 car parking spaces, only 10 of these spaces would be acceptable. Therefore the proposal would be contrary to Transport Policy 7.
A number of neighbours have objected or made comments on the issue of the proposal using the privately owned rear access lane. From a planning perspective the Department only needs to determine that the site can be accessed, which in this case it could. The Department of Transport Highway Division has no objection to the proposed scheme using the rear lane. The matter of whether the applicant can get permission is a civil matter between the relevant parties. If the applicant cannot get permission then the scheme would not be permitted as it could not access the proposed parking spaces.
Potential impacts upon neighbouring amenities The directly adjoining properties, the Ramsey Youth Centre and Lough House, are not residential properties. The residential properties most likely to be affected would be the dwellings directly opposite Waterloo Road and Approach Road. Additionally, the properties to the rear might also be affected. However without full details of the proposal, it is not considered a full assessment can be made at this stage.
In conclusion, it is for the applicant to demonstrate, in seeking approval in principle for a certain scale and type of development, how such a scheme could work. The applicant has failed to demonstrate in this proposal how the proposal could take place without adverse impacts. It is not considered possible to grant approval in principle therefore, notwithstanding the view that some form of residential development would seem to be appropriate here. It is recommended that the planning application be refused on the planning policy grounds that the proposed development would be unacceptable in terms of Transport Policy 7 and General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan (June 2007); in that the proposed development represents an over-development of the site which would not provide the required parking provision for the number of dwellings proposed and as the external amenity space for the proposed dwellings would be unsatisfactory.
It is considered that the following meet the criteria of Government Circular 1/06 and should be afforded interested party status:-
Ramsey Commissioners Department of Transport Highways Division The owner/occupier of 57 Waterloo Road, Ramsey The owner/occupier of 22 St. Pauls Mews, Ramsey The owners/occupiers of 23 St. Pauls Mews, Ramsey The owners/occupiers of 43 Mysore Cottages, Waterloo Road, Ramsey The owners/occupiers of 41 Mysore Cottages, Waterloo Road, Ramsey The owners/occupiers of Lough House, Approach Road, Ramsey Abbey Properties Limited It is considered that the following do not meet the criteria of Government Circular 1/06 and should not be afforded interested party status:-
A resident of Seacliffe, Old Castletown Road, Braddan
Recommended Decision: Refused
Date of Recommendation: 10.12.2008
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions R : Reasons for refusal
R 1. The proposed development by reason of its partare and scale would result in an over intensive use of the site, evidenced in particular by:- i) The unacceptable parking layout contrary to Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan; and ii) Unacceptably low standards of external amenity space which would impact adversely upon the residential amenity of future occupiers of the dwellings, contrary to General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan.
I confirm that this decision has been made by the Planning Committee in accordance with the authority afforded to it under the Town and Country (Development Procedure) 2005
Decision Made : Committee Meeting Date :
Signed : Reporting Officer
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