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July 2025 Prepared by: Ellis Brown, Architects 1 Sydney Mount, Douglas, IM1 3DB
Planning Application 20/01507/A for four 2-storey detached houses accessed from the main road was approved in principle at appeal in June 2022. The approval notice listed the following reserved matters to receive approval prior to the commencement of any development.
The approval notice does not list drainage among the reserved matters; however, it later lists in condition 3 that details of foul and surface water drainage are to be included within the reserved matters. Therefore, drainage will also be formally treated as a reserved matter as per the planning application form.
• Drainage
This proposal is for four detached 4-bedroom houses with attached single garages and space for two cars on the driveway, to be located in the field to the rear of the existing property Conister. The existing property, Conister, would be demolished as part of the development to allow access from the main road to the field below. The number, size and layout of the houses is based on those approved in PA20/01507/A.
This design is based upon the approved design in PA 20/01507/A. That design showed an access road from the main road down to the lower field behind the existing house, Conister, which is to be demolished as part of the proposal. That application showed four houses, each with a footprint of 115sqm and a straight access lane along the boundaries with Leahurst and Inglemere which would have resulted in the loss of much of the mature vegetation on the site.
This planning application is for the developed design which shows four houses with a footprint of 111sqm located in roughly the same positions as per the previous planning application. There have been some amendments to the road and house arrangement to allow for retaining more of the existing mature vegetation along the boundary with Leahurst and Inglemere as well as allowing space for the required wastewater pumping station and stormwater attenuation tank.
The proposed properties are to be two storey houses with four bedrooms with an attached single garage and pitched roofs. The houses will have anthracite uPVC windows, reconstituted roof slates and will be finished in smooth painted render with some stone cladding panels as features on the front elevations.
The four proposed houses are sited in the field in the lower part of the site, as per planning application 20/01507/A, with the existing house being demolished to allow an access road to the lower part of the site.
The existing house and its garden are too narrow to accommodate both houses and the access road and therefore the area to the sides of the access road will be landscaped.
There have been some minor changes to the positioning and orientation of the houses to accommodate the existing mature vegetation and services when compared to the approved design.
A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Report was carried out by Ecology Vannin in June 2025. The report made the following recommendations.
The road layout as envisaged in PA20/01507/A has been amended to avoid the canopy spreads as indicated on both the topographic survey and the Manx Roots Tree Constraints map. Root protection will be used where the road enters the Root Protection Areas indicated on the Tree Constraints map.
The position of the houses, although very similar to that shown in the approved planning application, has been amended to avoid areas with trees and to follow the revised road layout.
There will be 300sqm of retained grassland to be located on either side of the access road with a maintenance regime in accordance with the recommendations of Ecology Vannin’s report.
Some native tree planting (Hazel, Birch, Hawthorn, Alder and Holly) as well as the 14 bird terraces, bat and nest boxes and bricks recommended by the Ecology Vannin will be installed on the proposed houses or established trees in accordance with the guidance of Ecology Vannin’s report due to the loss of vegetation along the western boundary of the field. The removal of this vegetation is necessary to allow the installation of the foul and stormwater drainage as well as to allow the houses to have a decent sized rear garden for amenity. The rear gardens became smaller when the access road and houses were moved westwards to protect the existing trees along the eastern boundary.
The tree impact constraint drawing from PA20/01507/A has been included in this application, however, the tree impact drawing and the arboricultural impact assessment have been omitted as they show trees being removed that are now to be retained to preserve biodiversity and for privacy of the neighbouring property Inglemere.
BB Consulting has been appointed to provide a detailed design of both the surface and foul water disposal systems.
The site slopes down from the main road in the east to the field to the west. Within the field there is a modest slope from north to south. The lowest point on the site is the southwest corner, it is from this point that the head of a field ditch which runs along the neighbouring field to the river to the west is found.
The soil on the site has a high clay content and is therefore unsuitable for onsite soakaways. Tests have taken place to confirm this.
Surface water from the roofs and road will be piped to the existing drainage ditch in the neighbouring field via attenuation tanks to slow down discharge into the river at the bottom of the field.
There is an existing main foul water sewer that runs behind the existing properties along the main road. The existing house, Conister, is connected to the sewer through an existing inspection chamber. The invert in the inspection chamber is approximately 800mm higher than the finished floor level in the proposed houses and therefore a pumping station will be required to pump the wastewater up to the sewer.
The wastewater pumping station is located the lower point of the site with an access path from the access lane. The pumping station is located approximately 10m from any habitable room, well beyond the minimum design guidance.
The access road will only serve four properties and therefore the intention is not to adopt the road. The road layout within the site has been designed to avoid the canopy spreads of the existing trees whilst being positioned as far to the east as possible so as to allow reasonably sized rear gardens to the proposed houses and two 6m deep parking spaces in front of the garage as per the Manual for Manx Roads. A 2-metre-wide service zone is located next to the access road. As in PA20/01507/A, a hammerhead is located at the end of the access lane to allow for waste collection vehicles to service the houses and the junction with the main road is as per the design in the approved planning application. The choice of street lighting follows the guidance of Ecology Vannin to minimise the impact on bats.
The four properties have the same internal layout with a lounge, a study and a kitchen/diner at ground floor and four bedrooms with a family bathroom and ensuite at first floor. To the side is an attached single garage with a utility room and WC.
The exterior of the proposed houses will be as follows
The principle of developing the site with four houses accessed from the main road via the site of the existing property Conister was established in the previous planning application PA20/01507/A. The detail provided in this planning application has addressed the seven reserved matters listed in the conditions of the previous planning approval.
Ellis Brown Drawings
IOM Groundmodels Drawing 2010E – 01 - Topographic survey 2509M – 03 - Splay Manx Roots Ltd Drawings TS-160221 - Tree Constraints Drawing BB Consulting Drawings 25-049-01 A - Proposed Drainage layout 25-049-05 A - Proposed Drainage layout – Impermeable area
Ecology Vannin Consultancy Services 25-14 version - Final - Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Report Highway Mann Transport Consultants Ltd(HMTC) 25-007 - Road Safety Audit – Stage ½ Road Safety Audit - Designers Response Form
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