ADD Planning Statement

Planning Statement In Support Of 23/00149/B For Installation Of Mezzanine Floor And Use Of Premises For Light Industrial Use On The Ground And Mezzanine Levels And The Parking Of Two Private Vehicles On The Ground Floor, Unit 21, Middle Farm, Braddan Im4 1Jl

• 1.0 INTRODUCTION
• 1.1 The site is the curtilage of an end terrace industrial unit within Middle Farm industrial estate situated to the south of Richmond Hill and accessed from the A24 road which links Fort North roundabout to the A25 Old Castletown Road.
• 1.2 The unit has a floor area of approximately 90 sq m internally and only a single floor of accommodation.
• 1.3. The building has a single roller shutter door on the front (south eastern) elevation within which there is a pedestrian door.
• 1.4 The unit is at the end of a row of nine almost identical units (there one on the other end being slightly larger than the rest) and opposite an almost identical but marginally shorter row. Some of the units appear to be occupied and there were vans and signage suggesting that some of the units are being used as a painter and decorator’s store, a flooring operation, a removals operation, a construction business unit and one of the units had a small motorhome and car parked within it with other small items being stored within. It is understood that all of the units have been sold but there is little evidence of many being used for commercial purposes or for purposes other than storage, with few having vehicles parked outside them and with no commercial signage. There would appear to be no special industrial use of any of the existing units.
• 1.5 At the time of the site visit (31.03.23) there were relatively few vehicles within this part of the industrial estate and where the vehicles were parked directly in front of each unit.

• 1.6 This contrasts to the situation on the section of the estate immediately to the north - a similar arrangement of units but where the vehicles parked, and there were significantly more, were all in the centre of the open area between the units, and where there were signs that some of the vehicles had been parked there for some time (moss growing under the cars and on the front of the bonnets).

• 2.0 THE PROPOSAL
• 2.1 Proposed is the installation of a mezzanine level to provide an additional 30 sq m of floorspace with internal stair access. The ground floor is proposed to be used mainly for the storage of large and heavy items in connection with a business managing 15 domestic and commercial buy to let properties plus storage of an electrician’s materials and equipment plus the storage (over the winter months only) of a motorhome the applicant wishes to purchase as well as a small classic car which is taken out infrequently in the summer to keep it running and in good condition. The motorhome would never be parked outside the unit and its use would involve only one visit to take it there and one to remove it for use, twice a year. The classic car would be taken out a handful of times in the summer to keep it running.
• 2.2 The remainder of the space upstairs and downstairs will be used for the storage of items associated with a substantial buy to let business administered by the applicant: items which could be stored upstairs include paint, decorating materials, tools, light fittings, cables, smoke detectors, dust sheets - whilst the ground floor can accommodate the heavier items - de-humidifiers, ladders, vacuum cleaners and any white goods that need to be stored if a tenant wishes to use their own (for example a washer drier, washing machine or fridge). This use is not unlike a painter and decorator’s business, joinery or plumbing business which would be an acceptable use here without the need for further approvals. Many of these items will be kept on the ground floor as they are too heavy to be taken up and down the stairs to the mezzanine level. This business is currently run from the applicant’s home but many items associated with it are now too great to be stored within a residential premises.
• 2.3 The applicant’s son aspires to have a future electrician’s business and items associated with that will also be stored there. He works on the applicant’s properties in his spare time and shall store surplus electrical materials and tools in the unit. The business currently manages 9 houses, 2 flats, 2 office buildings, 1 warehouse and 1 garage all of which are tenanted and require regular maintenance. No customers or tenants will ever need to visit the premises.
• 2.4 It is intended to operate a small office within the unit on the mezzanine level for administration and bookkeeping for the businesses referred to above. The operation will only involve storage and administration. This is likely to result in a visit once a month to do the book keeping for both businesses.
• 2.5 No-one other than those associated with both businesses would visit the site: in reality this is the applicant, her husband or one of both of their sons and around two visits per month. The businesses would not involve day to day calling. The owners park their own cars at home. The electrician carries around most of his tools and equipment in his van which is parked at their residential address. Only overspill items will be kept in the unit

• 2.6 It is our belief that the storage of the motor vehicles as proposed, which will not be the primary use of the unit, is a storage use compatible with an industrial estate, and indeed approved under the terms of the original approval and the remainder of the activities to be undertaken fall into the category of industrial also. Such activities are industrial for a substantial commercial business. Whilst two of the items to be stored are domestic rather than industrial in function (the two vehicles), it is the use for storage which is the critical issue, not the nature of the items to be stored and the vehicles are not used every day as would be vehicles parked at the associated residential property. The unit will not be an extension of the applicant’s place of residence with people coming to collect and use the vehicles on a daily, frequent or even regular basis and so we would submit that the use is storage, which is one of the uses originally approved for this unit (see Planning History later) but for clarification, the use of the unit for storage is also being sought.
• 2.7 The primary use of the unit is clearly for industrial purposes. The buy to let business is a substantial commercial operation. It has outgrown its tools, equipment and materials being stored in a garage at a residential address.

• 3.0 PLANNING HISTORY
• 3.1 The existing unit was approved under 19/00328/B with further, minor changes approved under 20/00980/MCH. The approval was subject to a number of conditions including the following:

• 3. The development hereby approved shall be used for general industrial use (as defined in 9.2.3 of the IOM Strategic Plan 2016) and/or storage and distribution purposes (Class 6 of the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2012 only.

Note that the Use Classes Order, Class 6 has been refined since the granting of that permission and the comparable use is now storage or distribution (Class 2.4).

Reason: The Department has assessed the impact (parking and amenity) of the development based on the uses requested in the application. The application has not been assessed for use as Light Industrial, Research and Development or Special Industrial which would have to be subject to a subsequent application.

• 4. There shall be no installation of mezzanine floors without prior approval by the Department as part of a separate planning application.

Reason: The car parking provision has been calculated on the proposed uses and gross footprint shown in the drawings only.

• 3.2 There have been no subsequent applications for any of the units so it is assumed that all of the existing uses of the units are in accordance with the approval granted or if they are not, no enforcement action appears to have been taken to date.
• 3.3 A similar application to the current proposal was submitted for one of the industrial units, not dissimilar to this and built by the same developer, in Balthane. 16/00378/B proposed “alterations, creation of additional windows and addition of mezzanine floor to industrial unit, along with change of use to storage and workshop”. The Planning Officer made the following comments before recommending that the application was approved:

2.1 Full planning approval was originally sought for: "Alterations, creation ofadditional windows and addition of mezzanine floor to industrial unit to create afamily office with archive and storage areas". As this was considered to be rather

vague, further clarification from the applicant / agent was sought in respect of the actual uses intended, which has proved difficult as the applicant himself appears unclear as to what he actually wishes to use the building for. However, an amended description was eventually settled on, as follows: "Alterations, creation of additional windows and addition of mezzanine floor to industrial unit, along with change of use to storage and workshop”.

• 2.2 The applicant is essentially in a position where he has insufficient storage space at home to accommodate all the things he owns and also the hobbies he has. The overall intention is for the unit to be used as storage space.
• 2.3 In addition to the change of the use of the unit, also proposed are new, and proportionally large, windows in the front, side and rear elevations. A number are proposed across these elevations in order to (presumably) provide light to the also-proposed mezzanine floor.

• 3.2 While the proposal is not necessarily wholly compatible with the land use designation, which is probably geared more towards general industry…

• 5.1 The proposal seeks approval for what might normally be considered a residential use on an industrial estate. However, in view of the large size of the unit, it is clearly the case that the applicant has a significant amount of storage need, and a proposal to provide that need at his current residential address might be difficult to satisfactorily achieve, having regard to the amount of space evidently required. With that in mind, the next best place for such a use would generally be considered an industrial estate and, in view of the apparent lack of interest in units of this kind for industrial use at present, to withhold approval on the grounds of the loss of an industrial unit would be unreasonable. It is also true that the use proposed is by no means 'non-industrial' as it is in many ways not dissimilar to general storage uses - the fact it is unrelated to a business per se is therefore not of significant concern in this instance - having regard to the otherwise empty units here and the large amount of storage required by the applicant.

4.0 Planning Policy

• 4.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Area Plan for the East as Special Industrial Use. This succeeded the Braddan Local Plan which designated the site as part of a wider area not designated for a particular purpose. Prior to that application, planning approval had been granted for industrial units (10/00155/B). The Special Industrial Area extends to the Energy From Waste Plant, the Animal By Products Plant and various recycling facilities, the industrial units referred to above and an area of presently undeveloped land to the north east which has a development brief in the Area Plan which states that this area shall be used for special industrial use, particularly the management processing, recycling and storage of waste. It also states:

Employment Proposal 6 Within the Waste Infrastructure Consultation Zone at Richmond Hill, there will be a presumption against development for purposes in which vulnerable members of the public would be present, including housing, and educational and medical establishments.

The “Waste Infrastructure Consultation Zone” is defined in the Infrastructure Constraints Map as a generic circle including all of the land designated as Special Industrial Use as well as areas alongside which are not designated for development.

• 4.2 Industry is defined in the Strategic Plan as follows:

“industrial building” means a building (other than a building in or adjacent to or belonging to a quarry or mine and other than a shop) used for the carrying on of any process, for or incidental to any of the following purposes, namely:-

• a) the making of any article or of part of any article; or
• b) the altering, repairing, ornamenting, finishing, cleaning, washing, packing or canning, or adapting for sale, or breaking up or demolition of any article; or
• c) without prejudice to the foregoing paragraphs, the getting, dressing or treatment of minerals; being a process carried on in the course of trade or business other than agriculture, and for the purposes of this definition the expression “article” means an article of any description, including a ship or vessel.

Such buildings are sub-divided into light industrial, general industrial and special industrial buildings, each defined as follows:

“light industrial building” means an industrial building (not being a special industrial building) in which the processes carried on or the machinery installed are such as could be carried on or installed in any residential area without detriment to the amenity of that area by reason of noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, soot, ash, dust or grit, or undue generation of traffic or parking of vehicles; the use of light industrial buildings for research and development of products or processes is permitted by the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2005.

“general industrial building” means an industrial building other than a light industrial building or a special industrial building;

“special industrial building” means an industrial building used for the carrying on of processes (including storage) which may be particularly offensive by reason of noise, smell, vibration, smoke, soot, ash, dust, grit, or fumes, or dangerous by reason of the storage or use of dangerous or inflammable material, or inimical to public health by reason of vermin or other causes.

• 4.3 The site is shown as being at low risk of surface water flooding in periods of excessive rainfall on the national flood risk maps but is not subject to any particular constraints in the Area Plan and there are no trees on site.

5.0 Assessment and justification

• 5.1 The proposal involves industrial use of the premises for a commercial business. It is accepted that the approval granted does not specifically extend the approved uses to storage and as such some element of approval may well be required for this now if the unit is to be used for the keeping of vehicles or the storage of items.
• 5.2 It is our submission that the nature of the storage of the vehicles here is not a domestic use and not dissimilar to the approval granted in Balthane in 16/00378/B, it is considered that this is an acceptable use of this unit (or indeed any of the general industrial units in this estate). Indeed it would appear that at least one of the existing units are being used for this purpose.
• 5.3 The proposed use would not generate any levels of traffic which would exceed the two parking spaces nor need any more than two parking spaces, as is provided for. If desirable, the applicant would accept a condition which restricts the use of the unit as follows:

The ground floor of the unit may be used only for storage purposes. The mezzanine level hereby approved may be used only for storage and/or office accommodation associated with the items to be stored within the building. The unit is a single planning unit and the floors may not be used other than in association with the other and may not be sold or let separately.

Reason: to ensure that there is not an adverse impact on the area through excessive car parking or traffic.

• 5.4 Whilst the site is now within an area designated for Special Industrial Purposes, the unit, and indeed the terraces of industrial units surrounding it, are all lawful industrial units, none of which is understood to be used for Special Industrial Purposes. It is not believed that the designation of this area in the Area Plan for the East brings with it an intention to change the use of these industrial units or to prevent their use for general industrial purposes as approved. The proposed use is little different in impact and function to the remainder of the units in the estate and is not considered to be one “where vulnerable members of the public would be present, including housing, and educational and medical establishments” and is thus not contrary to Employment Proposal 6 of the Area Plan.

• 5.5 We would submit that there is no harm in the proposed use of the existing unit as proposed and that it largely complies with the lawful approved use of the building and surrounding industrial units and enables a local, expanding and successful business to be better managed and to continue to contribute to the local economy by means of payment of taxable profits on rents collected and purchases of services, equipment and materials from local suppliers.

Sarah Corlett 13th April, 2023