Agenda item

To consider a report by (which includes a confidential appendix) the Development Manager, Planning and Public Protection (copy attached) providing an update on the regulation of holiday caravan parks within the county and to assess the effectiveness of the Council’s approach to ensuring compliance with planning and licensing conditions.

10.40 a.m. – 11.20 a.m.

The Lead Member for Planning, Public Protection and Safer Communities introduced the Development Manager’s (Planning and Public Protection) report (previously circulated) the purpose of which was to update members on the progress of regulatory activity, and to explore whether the approach agreed by the Committee in 2017 to regulate holiday parks on a ‘business as usual’ basis was having the desired effects.  During his introduction the Development Manager (Planning and Public Protection) advised the Committee that progress reports in relation to this project had been presented to Scrutiny on numerous occasions during recent years as members wanted reassurances that individuals were not using caravans on holiday parks as their permanent residence and consequently avoiding paying Council Tax whilst having access to Council services.

He gave an overview of the process followed to deliver the project to what was now deemed to be a satisfactory position where the regulation of holiday parks could be undertaken on a ‘business as usual basis’.  The first stage had entailed trawling through Council services’ databases to identify individuals who were accessing Council services from holiday park addresses.  Following identification of potential breaches of planning and/or licensing conditions on holiday sites officers worked with the park’s operators with a view to remedying any breaches, whilst at the same time ensuring that vulnerable occupants were safeguarded and not made homeless.  The final stage of the project was to undertake enforcement action against those operators who were unwilling to co-operate or comply, despite being given the opportunity to do so.  Examples of the type of enforcement action undertaken was outlined in the confidential Appendix 2 to the report.  The Development Manager reassured members that the objective from now on would be to regularly monitor holiday park activities through regular engagement with the operators, whilst also monitoring access to Council services from holiday parks.  Enforcement action would continue to be taken when all alternative methods were exhausted.

Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member, Development Manager and Planning Officer –

·         advised that enforcement action could be taken in accordance with planning and/or licensing regulations.  However, in the case of persistent non-compliance licensing legislation had more provisions to be used as a deterrent as non-compliance with licensing legislation did carry financial penalties and ultimately could see an operator having their licence revoked which would lead to the loss of livelihood.  Similar to planning enforcement work, resources were limited in this area but if all other courses of action failed licensing enforcement would be used

·         confirmed that the Service did not have any evidence of caravans, lodges or chalets being located in remote woodland areas etc. for residential purposes

·         advised that one of the main causes behind people occupying holiday caravans on an all-year round basis on some parks was miss-selling on the part of park proprietors/operators, who advertised their caravans/chalets/lodges as residential properties rather than for holiday purposes

·         confirmed that enforcement officers visited all holiday parks during their ‘closedown period’ to check whether there was any evidence that they were being used for residential purposes.  If a complaint was received with regards to a park’s operation at any time of year it would be visited as a matter of course

·         advised that some of the larger holiday parks could be visited by a range of enforcement officers during the course of a year, i.e. planning, licensing, Fire and Rescue Service.  If one enforcement authority had concerns about an aspect of the park’s operation which was the responsibility of another enforcement service they would draw the relevant authority’s attention to any potential breach

·         outlined the Council’s incremental approach towards dealing with any breach in conditions, advising that if breaches continued to take place an escalation process would be applied in relation to taking enforcement action

·         confirmed that Council Tax was levied on residential caravans on residential sites, however the Council did not wish to increase the number of residential caravans in the county and neither did the majority of caravan park operators as people living in residential caravans tended to spend less locally compared to tourists

·         drew members’ attention to Appendix 1 to the report which highlighted the fact that since the project’s inception there had been a marked reduction in the number of people accessing Council services from addresses on holiday parks, apart from Social Services which had registered a slight increase.  This increase was attributed to the fact that elected members wanted to ensure that vulnerable residents were safeguarded and that no one was made homeless as a consequence of enforcement action by the Council, and

·         advised that British citizens who resided abroad could use their holiday caravan address for Electoral Registration purposes in order to exercise their right to vote in the UK, regardless of the fact that the caravan may be on a holiday park rather than on a residential site.

Following an in-depth discussion the Committee –

RESOLVED  –

(a)       subject to the above observations to endorse the efficacy of the ‘business as usual’ approach towards regulating the use of holiday parks in Denbighshire;

(b)       to support officers of the Council to continue to investigate potential unauthorised residential occupation of holiday parks, and

(c)        agree that the regulation of Caravan and Holiday Parks in Denbighshire should now continue on a “business as usual” basis without the need for further referral to Scrutiny.

At this juncture (11.05 a.m.) the meeting adjourned for a refreshment break.