Agenda item

To consider a report by the Graduate Trainee, Business Improvement and Modernisation (copy enclosed) to provide information on the work carried out to date and planned next steps for the Project.

10.15 a.m. – 10.50 a.m.

 

 

 

The Lead Member for Public Realm, Councillor David Smith, introduced the report (previously circulated) to provide information regarding progress on this project since the previous Scrutiny Committee report.            

 

The Committee had considered the report and it was agreed that the meeting move to Part II

 

PART II

 

Exclusion of Press and Public

RESOLVED – that under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the Press and Public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 13 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

 

Officers drew Members’ attention to the statistics which illustrated the array of services accessed by people living on “holiday” caravan sites and emphasised that:

 

·       A lot of detailed background work had been undertaken with a view to establishing the extent of the problem of people living in “holiday” caravans on a full-time basis and accessing council services despite the fact that they had not contributed towards those services via the Council Tax system

·       There may also be other people living in “holiday” caravans that the Local Authority would not be aware of as they were not registered on the electoral roll or attempted to access services.  Some may even be in full-time employment

·       From the research undertaken to date, it was estimated that the Council would be losing in the region of a minimum of £300k per annum in Council Tax monies and Revenue Support Grant (RSG) payments by virtue of the fact that an estimated 175 individuals in the county were living all year round in “holiday” caravans

·       The majority of the individuals were living in the county’s larger caravan sites, and these sites had their own services such as shops and launderettes on site

·       Work was currently underway with the British Holiday and Homes Parks Association (BH&HPA) with a view to using the Association’s membership as a conduit for promoting good practice and management and identifying malpractices and mismanagement

·       Work was underway on developing a Regulatory Procedure Manual and it was anticipated that this manual would be launched during the spring of 2016 at a conference jointly hosted by Denbighshire County Council and the BH&HPA.

 

During discussion, Members raised concerns with respect to:

 

·       Recent applications to the Council’s Planning Committee seeking to extend operator’s licence conditions from 10 months to 12 months.

·       The cost to the Council of the “hidden population” residing in the county’s caravan sites, particularly those who did not have “homes” elsewhere and stayed in their caravans for 10 months, going abroad for the remaining 2 months before returning to their “holiday” caravans in Denbighshire.  A number of these people were elderly and would, at some point, be accessing public services in the area.

·       There was a possibility that some of those who had homes elsewhere could also be on the electoral roll in two different areas.

 

Members and officers discussed at some length the benefits and constraints of introducing a “caravan tax” as a way of securing some income from the caravan owners for the services they receive.  Members raised concerns in relation to the eligibility criteria for council housing raised within Appendix 5 of the report (page 56), which illustrated access to council housing and how a resident with medical problems in a caravan could gain additional points in comparison to the occupant of a house when applying for council housing.  The Lead Officer – Community Housing was requested to look into this matter in detail.

 

Following the in-depth discussion the Lead Member for Public Realm and officers responded to Members’ questions and advised that:

 

·       The low response to date with respect to the caravan site mapping exercise was partly attributable to the timing of the exercise, which had taken place at the conclusion of the holiday season.  However, this should not delay the commencement of the work to populate the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) with the information obtained to date.

·       Not all caravan site operators were members of the BH&HPA, around 75% of the county’s caravan site operators were members.  Unfortunately, it was the larger sites that tended not to be members of the Association.

·       Some caravan sites did not permit individual post boxes on site, all mail had to be delivered to the site office.  This assisted the site owners to police the dwellings better.  Some site owners would not sell a caravan to someone without a valid proof of an address elsewhere.

·       NHS registers were also a useful source of data on people who lived on caravan sites.

·       Whilst the council supported the concept of an all year round tourist trade, this did not constitute having the same individuals residing in caravans for 12 months.  People who resided permanently in their caravans did not contribute as much to the local economy as those who visited for a short period of time, as the latter would visit various locations and spend money in those places.  The former were more than likely to make more use of the on-site facilities such as shops, bars and restaurants.

·       Holiday cottages were also governed by legislation to avoid them being classed as permanent dwellings.  The licence for holiday cottages would stipulate the conditions placed upon them.

·       Whilst there were not any incentives for “badly managed” sites to adhere to the rules, it would be hoped that having a “bad reputation” or “bad name” would alter their approach.  If this would not work, the council would need to go down the enforcement route.

·       If an individual had purchased a caravan on a 10 month site, thinking it was an all year-round site, he/she could contact the Trading Standards Department for guidance relating to being miss-sold a product.  Officers also undertook to take this matter up with the BH&HPA.

·       It would not be useful to trawl through historic data on occupancy of caravan sites, it would be a far more efficient use of resources to concentrate efforts on data from the last twelve months and into the future.

 

The Lead Member for Public Realm appealed to councillors to let officers know if they had any caravans within their wards which they suspected were being occupied on a permanent basis without the required residency permission.

 

Members agreed that the Council could not afford to lose circa £300k per year. There was, therefore, a need to establish the amount of enforcement action it could afford to take in the future.  A standard and consistent regulatory policy combined with partnership working with the BH&HPA association and local caravan site operators should in the long-term realise benefits for all concerned and help the council to deliver a number of its corporate priorities.  At the conclusion of the discussion, Members expressed their gratitude to the officers for their work and the Committee:

 

RESOLVED that subject to the above to agree:

 

(i)              That the corporate address database and new monitoring regime be used to tackle possible future unauthorised residential occupation of holiday caravans through joint planning and licensing controls

(ii)             To the development of joint procedures and documents for monitoring, investigating and enforcing of sites

(iii)            To the development of a proactive strategy for tackling larger “problem” sites in the county where evidence of unauthorised residential occupation is most prevalent, and that this strategy will need to establish appropriate time periods after which action may not be considered appropriate.

(iv)           To the establishment of further links with the British Holiday and Home Park Association (BH&HPA) to create park management procedures for all sites, and

(v)            That the draft Regulatory Procedure manual be presented to the Committee in the spring of 2016 (possibly March) for members’ comments.