Application for Creation of Builder's Yard with Associated Offices
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PLANNING APPLICATIONS BOARD: 9 NOVEMBER 2017 17/00306/PPD – APPLICATION FOR CREATION OF BUILDER’S YARD WITH ASSOCIATED OFFICES, WORKSHOP AND STORE BUILDINGS AT STEINISH, ISLE OF LEWIS Report by Director of Development PURPOSE OF REPORT Since the planning application has been the subject of more than six representations the planning application cannot be dealt with under delegated powers and is presented to Committee for a decision. COMPETENCE 1.1 There are no legal, financial or other constraints to the recommendation being implemented. SUMMARY 2.1 This is a planning application by MJC Inspection and Design Ltd, on behalf of O’Mac Construction Ltd, 44-46 Inaclete Road, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis for planning permission to create a Builder’s Yard with associated workshop/store building and offices at Steinish, Isle of Lewis. 2.2 The site is located, on the south side of the Steinish village road, immediately adjacent to the Lewis and Harris Auction Mart. Two buildings, a parking area for 30 spaces and a boundary fence 2.4m high are proposed on the 0.585 ha site which forms part of an existing croft. In terms of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Scotland Order 1997, the premises would not fall within any particular Use Class and would therefore be termed sui generis meaning ‘of its own kind’. Any ‘Change of Use’ from the consented use would therefore require a new Planning Permission in its own right. 2.3 104 representations have been received regarding the development. Five are in support and 97 object to the development and 2 neither object, nor support. The issues raised principally relate to road capacity and safety; visual amenity; loss of quality agricultural land; precedent; local amenity; impact on auction mart; wildlife; water quality; fishing; loss of property value; and procedures. 2.4 The Comhairle is required to determine planning applications in accordance with the provisions of its Development Plan unless material planning considerations indicate otherwise. The assessment against the Development Plan has determined that the proposal is in accordance with its provisions. An assessment of the material planning considerations has not identified any matter that carries such weight that it indicates that the Development Plan should not be accorded priority. The proposal is therefore recommended for approval subject to the conclusion of a Section 75 Planning Agreement and the application of conditions. RECOMMENDATION 3.1 It is recommended that: a) the planning application be APPROVED subject to: i. the planning conditions in Appendix 1 to the Report and ii. the completion of an agreement under section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to include widening of the carriage way as detailed in the Plan at Appendix 5 and post-construction road repairs identified as related to the construction phase of the development. b) the Chief Executive be given delegated authority , in consultation with the Director of Development to conclude the Section 75 Agreement referred to in a) above within four months of the decision of the committee. Contact Officer: Mairi Mackinnon Tel: 01851 822 690 Email: [email protected] Appendix: 1. Schedule of Proposed Conditions 2 Aerial map, location map 3. Map of site location relative to Croft No 13 4. Application site plan, elevation plans 5. Plan – extent of Simon’s Road requiring widening Background Papers: None DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSAL 4.1. This is a planning application by MJC Inspection and Design Ltd, on behalf of O’Mac Construction Ltd, 44-46 Inaclete Road, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis for planning permission to create a builder’s yard with associated workshop store buildings and offices at Steinish, Isle of Lewis. 4.2. The site is located in the village of Steinish, on the south side of the village road and immediately adjacent to the Lewis and Harris Auction Mart. The nearest houses to the development on the opposite side of the village road are 148 metres to the north west of the site and 163 metres to the north east of the site. More recently Planning Permission in Principle has been granted to erect a house on the same side of the road as the proposed development, 133 metres to the north east of the site. 4.3. The entire site measures 78 metres by 75 metres. The store/workshop building is to be located in the centre of the site and measures 39.7 metres by 17.6 metres in plan and is 7.3 metres in height. The walls and roof of the building would be sheeted in dark grey profile sheeting. 4.4. The proposed office building, sited on the eastern boundary, to the front section of the site, measures 15.1 metres by 10.1 metres in plan and is 3.9 metres in height. The proposed materials for the office building would be dark grey profiled metal roof sheeting, vertical board cedar cladding to the walls and grey uPVC windows and doors. The rain water goods would be black uPVC. 4.5. 30 parking spaces are proposed on the site. A 2.4 metre high palisade fence would be erected to the perimeter of the site and planting is also proposed, although the species are yet to be agreed. 4.6. In terms of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Scotland Order 1997, a Builder’s Yard would not fall within any particular Use Class and would therefore be termed sui generis meaning ‘of its own kind’. Any ‘Change of Use’ from the consented use would therefore require a new Planning Permission in its own right. A builder’s yard is characterised by a higher level of activity at the start and end of each working day, with a small number of employees present during the day carrying out service and support functions at the yard, workshop and offices, and the majority of employees based away from the site on construction activities elsewhere. DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTEXT 4.7. Steinish, while relatively close to the main settlement of Stornoway, is classed as a ‘Rural Settlement’, in terms of Policy 1: Development Strategy of the adopted Outer Hebrides Local Development Plan 2012. It is also classed as ‘Rural settlement’ by Policy DS1: Development Strategy in the Outer Hebrides Local Development Plan (2) – Proposed Plan 2017. 4.8. In terms of the Western Isles Landscape Character Assessment, Steinish is identified as Crofting One landscape type. The Landscape Character Assessment records the key characteristics of the Crofting One landscape type as ‘long sweeping gentle slopes often domed, ending in long curving beaches to the seaward and merging evenly into boggy moorland elsewhere… The scale of this landscape is large with open views being commonplace. A rectangular field pattern overlies the gently rolling landscape. The smaller scale of this field pattern, divided by post and wire fences is not sufficiently strong to override the underlying large scale character…. Low skylines, 'toothed' with croft houses and other buildings are characteristic. The repetitive pattern of croft houses, backed by crofting strips within the linear arrangement of crofting townships is a strong, unifying feature to this landscape…. In linear settlements, views to the sea or open moorland behind give a perception of rural remoteness’. 4.9. In addition to landscape characteristics existing development patterns, scale and design of buildings, nature of uses and activities peculiar to the area help establish the character of an area. 4.10. The public road access into Steinish runs in a north easterly direction from Mossend where it initially passes the Blar Buidhe Nursing home and the residential development of Redburn. The public road has a formal pavement on one side to just beyond the entrance to Redburn. The road extends for approximately one mile through Stewartfield and the first crofts in Steinish, before splitting at a T-junction and running at right angles to Simon’s Road from where it servers the more populated end of the village. 4.11. The majority of crofts in Steinish are located at the far end of the village road and in terms of size and layout are more typical of the Crofting One character type in that they are long narrow strips arranged in a linear pattern and generally run on a SW to NE axis. Most of the existing buildings in the village are located on these crofts and are typically residential, interspersed domestic outbuildings and agricultural buildings. 4.12. The application site sits within the rural settlement of Steinish forms part of a larger croft which straddles Simon’s Road and lies immediately adjacent to the Lewis and Harris auction mart site. The croft of which it forms part is in terms of size much larger than is typical of Crofting One landscape types. 4.13. The croft, of which the application site forms part, is large extending to 19 ha (48 acres) and appears to be of mixed character, with the land on the north west side of Simon’s Road being unimproved grassland used for grazing while the land on the south east side of the road slopes gently towards the shore and is of arable quality and more suited to cropping. 4.14. The application site extends to 0.585 ha (1.4 acres) and is located on the north west side of the road on part of the unimproved grassland, used for grazing. 4.15. The adjacent auction mart site comprises a building which is agricultural in character with adjacent metaled yard areas and an extensive area of stock pens of galvanized steel. The proposal would have a closer physical and visual relationship with the auction mart site than it would with the housing on the linear crofts at the end of the Steinish Road 4.16.