Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Planning and Public Protection, on the draft Caravan Site Regulatory Procedures, had been circulated previously.

                                                                                                        11.45 a.m.

A copy of a report by the Development Manager:  Planning and Public Protection had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

Introducing the report the Lead Member for Public Realm referred to the background to the report and the work that had been undertaken to date with respect of collecting data on the use of caravan sites across the county.  He emphasised the importance of this particular project and the potential implications to the Council if people were living on ‘holiday’ sites all year round i.e. using local services whilst not subject to Council Tax and the Council itself losing out on Revenue Support Grant (RSG) funding as these residents were not included in population figures on which the RSG was based.

The Lead Member and officers advised the Committee that:-

·                      the draft Caravan Regulatory Procedure, which set out the corporate approach for better regulation of caravan sites, was being presented to Members seeking their agreement to the principles contained within it;

·                      a lot of engagement had taken place with the British Holiday and Home Park Association (BHHPA) with a view to establishing best practice in the industry and encouraging the industry to effectively manage and regulate itself;

·                      the BHHPA had recently arranged a joint conference at the Nova in Prestatyn at which planning, licensing, trading standards and business support information was provided to caravans site owners.

Responding to Members’ questions the Lead Member and officers:

·                      confirmed that, whilst the enforcement of regulations relating to caravan sites across the county seemed to be a big undertaking, they were of the view that with the Service’s current staffing levels this was possible if the Service concentrated on enforcement action on current and future breaches and breaches which had occurred during the preceding 12 months;

·                      whilst breaches to planning or licensing conditions which had taken place more than 12 months ago would be identified and the caravan and caravan site owner would be issued with a warning letter advising them of the contravention, officers may decide not to follow-up on these historic cases.  However, by law such contraventions could be pursued if they had occurred within a period of up to ten years.  A decision would be taken on whether to pursue breaches which had taken place more than twelve months ago based on the circumstances and extent of each individual case, breaches which had occurred within the last twelve months would be pursued as would future breaches;

·                      alleged breaches of conditions would be investigated from the perspective of both the caravan owner and the caravan site owner/operator;

·                      the issue of ‘lawful residency’ would be looked at separately.  Residents who were granted a ‘Certificate of Residency Lawfulness’ would be liable for Council Tax and have access to certain services.  Further enquiries would be required with respect of this aspect;

·                      clarified that if caravan owners investigated for unlawful occupation of holiday caravans did confirm that they would conform in future with the planning an licensing conditions, that would not affect any action to deal with previous breaches of conditions;

·                      advised that despite the fact that some council services could be withdrawn from caravan owners who were in breach of planning and licensing conditions by living in caravans on holiday sites, not all services could be withdrawn or refused.  Certain key services would by law be required to be provided e.g. education and social care services.

Following detailed consideration and discussion on the draft regulatory procedures the Committee:

RESOLVED – that subject to the above observations:-

(i)            to agree to the principles of the Regulatory Procedures as set out in Appendix 1 to the report;

(ii)           agree that officers of the Planning and Public Protection Service finalise the Procedures and begin to implement them; and

(iii)         that a report be presented to the Committee in twelve months’ time evaluating the Procedures’ implementation and identifying any problems or anomalies encountered during their implementation and enforcement.