Officer Report

Application No.: 25/91038/C Applicant: Karl Andrew Logan Proposal: Change of use of first floor bedroom (Class 3.3) to hairdressing facility (Class 1.1) Site Address: 113 Royal Avenue Onchan Isle Of Man IM3 1LA Planning Officer: Richard Wilshaw Photo Taken: 09.01.2026 Site Visit: 09.01.2026 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 22.01.2026 _________________________________________________________________

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

• C 1. The development hereby approved shall be begun before the expiration of four years from the date of this decision notice.

Reason: To comply with Article 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

• C 2. The driveway and parking area shown on the approved SITE PLAN shall be maintained free from obstruction and available for the parking of one vehicle for customers at all times when the salon use hereby approved is in operation. Reason: In the interest of highway safety in reducing demand for on street parking
• C 3. The salon use hereby approved shall be restricted to that area lined red on the approved PROPOSED FIRST FLOOR PLAN. Reason: the application has been assessed on this basis only
• C 4. There shall only be one customer in the property at any one time. Reason: In the interests of highway safety and neighbouring amenity
• C 5. The use hereby approved shall only operate between the hours of 10:00 to 16:00 only. Reason: The application has been assessed on this basis only.
• C 6. The use hereby approved shall only be operated by the owner and/or occupier of the property 113 Royal Avenue, Onchan only.

Reason: In the interest of amenity and highway safety, and to reflect the specific circumstances of the application proposal.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason.

It is proposed that several conditions are used to control the development in the interests of amenity and highway safety. These conditions are necessary, relevant, reasonable and enforceable and have been agreed with the Applicant. An off-street car parking space would be kept available. The small scale and low impact of the operation would be ensued by limiting its physical extent within the building, by keeping the number of customers at any time to one, by restricting working hours to the day time and by making the approval of the proposal for the benefit of the owner / occupier of the application site only. With those conditions in place, the proposed change of use would be compliant with all relevant planning policy and acceptable in every respect. The planning application should therefore be approved and planning permission for the change of use granted.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans received 03.11.2025: LOCATION PLAN and SITE PLAN reference 25/91038

Received 24.11.2025: PROPOSED FIRST FLOOR PLAN Rev. 'A'

_________________________________________________________________ Right to Appeal

It is recommended that the following organisations should NOT be given the Right to Appeal: DOI Highway Services - No objection, condition attached. Onchan Commissioners - No objection

_________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of 113 Royal Avenue, Onchan which is a two-storey detached property (1930's in style) along the western side of Royal Avenue. The dwelling is characterised with a pebble dash finish with rosemary tiles to the roof. The site has

• a driveway with space for 2 vehicles to the front of the property. A bus stop is available immediately outside the property on Royal Avenue.

1.2 Internally the dwelling consists of living, kitchen and dining space alongside a bedroom and utility room to the ground floor and 3 bedrooms and a bathroom to the first floor. PROPOSAL

2.1 The application proposes the change of use of one of the upstairs bedrooms to a hair dressing facility. The bedroom is the smallest bedroom of the four at approximately 5.5m2. The change of use proposed would be from Class 3.3 to Class 1.1. No external works are proposed. Some internal works would be required to facilitate the use of the room as a hairdressing facility, but no works are proposed that would require planning permission. Accordingly it is just the principal of the change of use of one bedroom into a hair dressing facility that is proposed. The hair dressing facility would be used by the owner / occupier of the dwelling and therefore no external staff would be required. PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 There is no planning history at the application site that is considered to be of material relevance to the determination of this planning application. PLANNING POLICY - 4.1 In terms of local plan policy, the application site is within an area designated as Predominantly Residential under the Area Plan for the East 2020. The site is not within a Conservation Area and there are no Registered Buildings in the vicinity.

4.2 Onchan is identified as a Service Centre in the Strategic Plan. Spatial Policy 5 requires that new development is to be located within the defined settlements and development will only be permitted outside of these areas in accordance with General Policy 3. - 4.3 The Strategic Plan further recommends that whilst the growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island are to be encouraged, this should be through development which accords with the policies of the Strategic Plan (Business Policy 1) and that new development should ideally be located within existing town and village centres on land zoned for such purposes (Strategic Policy 9 and Business Policy 10) and that it should not adversely affect adjacent service areas (Business Policy 9). The presence of facilities within town and village centres adds to the vitality and success of the centres and investment in property can be used to renew some of the ageing fabric of the town centre buildings. These centres are generally served by existing infrastructure making them more sustainable locations compared with remote countryside spots and reducing demand for private vehicle use which is also an aim set out throughout sustainable policies of the Strategic Plan. - 4.4 Community Policy 2 states that new community facilities should be located to serve the local population and be accessible to non-car users and should where possible re-use existing vacant or underused buildings. - 4.5 While not strictly applicable General Policy 2 sets out a number of general development standards including highway safety: - 4.6 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:

b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them; c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape;

• g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;
• h) provides satisfactory amenity standards in itself, including where appropriate safe and convenient access for all highway users, together with adequate parking, servicing and manoeuvring space;
• i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways;"

REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the Government's website. This report contains summaries only.

5.1 DOI Highways - No objection (03.12.2025) - After reviewing this Application, Highway Services HDC finds it to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and/or parking as there is off-street parking for residents and visitors of the dwelling and hairdressers, the proposal is of relatively small operation and the site is on a frequent bus route with bus stops outside the dwelling. Conditions on applicant only being able to operate out of the unit and providing parking for visitors of the proposals for the duration of the operation should be attached to permission (for highway and parking amenity purposes).

5.2 Onchan Commissioners - No objection (18.12.2025) - The Board of Onchan District Commissioners would recommend that the application be APPROVED for planning purposes only. - 5.3 The following were consulted but no response has been received at the time of writing the report: o Manx Utilities Authority - Electricity

ASSESSMENT

6.1 The key issues relate to the principal of the proposed change of use, potential impact on local character and neighbouring amenity and car parking provision / potential highways impact Whether the location of the development is acceptable in principle

• 6.2. The application site is in Onchan which is a designated Service Centre wherein the site lies inside a wide area of predominantly residential development but which encompasses civic, cultural, worship, catering, retail and light industry. The Predominantly Residential designation of the area surrounding the application site is plainly not exclusive of other uses, provided they have no unacceptable planning impacts and are compliant with relevant development management policies, in this case General Policy 2 and Community Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan.
• 6.3 The application site is sustainably located on a bus route, close to the town centre of Onchan, such that customers are likely to arrive and depart by means other than private car. On that basis alone, the proposal is acceptable in principle.
• 6.4 Moreover, there is no clear evidence that there are alternative, more central premises suitable for the small-scale, part-time hairdressing service proposed Potential impact on local character and neighbouring amenity
• 6.5 The proposed change of use, limited to a small part of the existing dwelling, would make no alteration to the external appearance of the property.
• 6.6 The numbers of clients visiting the premises would be relatively modest and could be limited to a single customer at any one time. There would accordingly be no significant effect on the appearance or character of the site or its predominantly residential surroundings.
• 6.7 The change of use would thus comply with General Policy 2 and Community Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan in respecting the site in scale and protecting the character of the townscape, whilst at the same time providing an accessible local service.
• 6.8 Due to the small scale of the proposed hairdressing service, the arrivals and departures of single clients would have minimal noticeable impact on the amenity of neighbours, such as by way of noise or disturbance, beyond the level of visitor activity normally to be expected in a residential street.
• 6.9 There would be no closely facing windows to affect the outlook or privacy of any other dwelling. In respect of amenity, the development would further comply with General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan.

Car parking provision / potential highways impact

6.10 There are 2 off-road car parking spaces available at the application site. To ensure that there is always sufficient space for customers it is proposed that any approval be subject to the use of an appropriately worded planning condition which requires that one car parking space be made available to customers during the opening hours of the hair dressing facility. The

proposed opening hours are 10:00 - 16:00 and the Applicant has agreed to the use of conditions restricting the use to these opening hours and requiring that one car parking space always be available during these times.

6.11 In the absence of objection from the Highway Authority, there is no reason to refuse the application on grounds of parking or road safety.

CONCLUSION

7.1 It is proposed that several conditions are used to control the development in the interests of amenity and highway safety. These conditions are necessary, relevant, reasonable and enforceable and have been agreed with the Applicant. An off-street car parking space would be kept available for customers. The small scale and low impact of the operation would be ensued by limiting its physical extent within the building, by keeping the number of customers at any time to one, by restricting working hours to the daytime and by making the approval of the proposal for the benefit of the owner / occupier of the application site only. With those conditions in place, the proposed change of use would be compliant with all relevant planning policy and acceptable in every respect. The planning application should therefore be approved and planning permission for the change of use granted. RIGHT TO APPEAL AND RIGHT TO GIVE EVIDENCE - 8.1 The Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 sets out the process for determining planning applications (including appeals). It sets out a Right to Appeal (i.e. to submit an appeal against a planning decision) and a Right to Give Evidence at Appeals (i.e. to participate in an appeal if one is submitted).

8.2 Article A10 sets out that the right to appeal is available to:

• o applicant (in all cases);
• o a Local Authority; Government Department; Manx Utilities; and Manx National Heritage that submit a relevant objection; and
• o any other person who has made an objection that meets specified criteria.

8.3 Article 8(2)(a) requires that in determining an application, the Department must decide who has a right to appeal, in accordance with the criteria set out in article A10. - 8.4 The Order automatically affords the Right to Give Evidence to the following (no determination is required):

• o any appellant or potential appellant (which includes the applicant);
• o the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, the Department of Infrastructure and the local authority for the area;
• o any other person who has submitted written representations (this can include other Government Departments and Local Authorities); and
• o in the case of a petition, a single representative.

8.5 The Department of Environment Food and Agriculture is responsible for the determination of planning applications. As a result, where officers within the Department make comments in a professional capacity they cannot be given the Right to Appeal.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by a Principal Planner in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation and that in making this decision the Officer has agreed the recommendation in relation to who should be afforded interested person status and/or rights to appeal.

Decision Made : Permitted Date: 26.01.2026 Determining Officer

Signed : C BALMER Chris Balmer Principal Planner

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