Plans to build a home on an historic harbourside have been given planning consent despite objections from village commissioners.

The planning committee this month (November 3) approved the application (20/00989/B) and (20/00990/CON) for the site of a former dwelling on the Underway at Port St Mary, which is in a proposed conservation area.

But Port St Mary Commissioners strongly objected to the proposal on the grounds that it is a modern design out of keeping with the streetscape.

The board argued in its submission said: ’It fails to preserve historical continuity of the area associated with the port’s sailing history. Additionally, the board considers this application to be over intensive development of the land.’

The site has been the subject of a number of applications for development, the most recent of which was given planning approval in 2007 for a more traditional three-storey cottage that followed the form and finish of the house next door.

But the new scheme, which has now secured planning consent, follows the lead from a new house alongside the Old Sail Loft, turning the ridge through 90 degrees and featuring retractable dark Siberian Larch cladding and a zinc roof.

The design statement reads: ’We felt that the building should be linked more with the sea and therefore the design has become "about the sea".

’Port St Mary is built up of many buildings which are connected with the sea and represent the relationship of the people of Port St Mary with the sea when they were built.’

It says the development will add to the ’vitality and conservation’ of Port St Mary, taking advantage of modern building technologies while still drawing from the past.

A building that was on the site around 1910 was used as the design inspiration.

Recommending approval of the scheme, planning officer Sarah Corlett accepted the introduction of a modern new building will change the appearance and to some extent the character of the proposed conservation area.

But she added: ’However, the new house adjacent to the Old Sail Loft has demonstrated that new, modern buildings can be accommodated in an historic streetscene without having a significant or a negative impact.’

She said its materials, height and shape will not compete with neighbouring buildings, which are generally taller and bigger, and the proposed dwelling had been designed to sit unobtrusively in the streetscene.

’As such it is considered that the proposal would have an acceptable impact on the streetscene, and acknowledging the potential conservation area designation.’