Agenda item - Adoption of Standard Caravan Site Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Sites

(Chairman of Housing Scrutiny Panel) To consider the attached report (C-012-2012/13).

(1) That, following consultation with park home site owners, residents and statutory consultees, and having regard to the previous decision of the Cabinet (C-069-2010/11 refers), the revised ‘Standard Park Home Site Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Sites in the Epping Forest District’ – as attached at Appendix 2 of the report - be adopted, including the following clarifications and variations from the Model Standards 2008 for Caravan Sites in England:

(a) That, with regard to closed porches:

(i) Mains-powered, interlinked smoke detection with integral battery back up should be required in all homes that have a closed porch, within 6 months of the date of the site licence, but where home owners prefer battery powered detection, that they be allowed to install battery powered systems provided that they were interlinked, with one alarm being placed in the porch and one in the home, within no more than 6 months; and

(ii) That funding for the home owner’s preferred option be offered, whilst available, through C.A.R.E’s Handyperson Service to eligible home owners;

(b) That both Porches and Decking be considered as ‘structures’ for the purposes of Condition 2(iv)(c) of the ‘Standard Park Home Site Licence Conditions for Residential Sites in Epping Forest District’. Accordingly, any such new structures that extend more than 1 metre into the separation space shall be of non-combustible construction and there must be a 4.5m clear distance between any such structure and any adjacent park home. However, any porches and decking that contravene this Condition shall be allowed to remain until the park home was eventually replaced; and

(c) That the following definitions be adopted for the purposes of the Conditions:

(i) With regard to fences, the same guidelines that were applied under Planning legislation, in terms of adornments and calculation methodology, to assess whether the height of fences met the requirements of the Site Licence Conditions; and

(ii) With regard to hedges, that a hedge was ‘a number of woody plants, whether capable of growing into trees or not, which are so planted as to be intended to be in line and which, when mature, to be so integrated together as to form a screen or a barrier’;

(2) That the Director of Housing be authorised to amend the licensing conditions to take account of any alterations to the licensing conditions agreed by the Cabinet on the recommendation of the Housing Scrutiny Panel and any other changes made by the Cabinet itself; and

(3) That, if local authorities were able to charge for park home licensing functions in the future, the Council reserved the right to charge for such functions in line with the relevant statutory legislation in force.

The Chairman of the Housing Scrutiny Panel presented a report concerning issues relating to the adoption of standard Caravan Site Licence Conditions for permanent residential sites.

The Scrutiny Panel Chairman reminded the Cabinet that it was a statutory requirement for local authorities to issue licences on all the park homes sites in their area and to decide what conditions to attach. In 2008, the Government had produced new standards for permanent residential park homes sites, providing a framework upon which councils could base the conditions that they attached when re-licensing sites. The existing site licence conditions for park home sites in Epping Forest District had not been reviewed for many years. New proposed standard park home site licence conditions for permanent residential sites had been agreed by the Cabinet at its meeting on 18 April 2011 (report C-069-2010/11 refers) to ensure conditions were relevant, consistent and would adequately protect the health and safety of people residing at, or visiting, sites within the District. However, following this process certain matters had come to light which required further clarification before the site licences could be issued. Further consultation was undertaken with site residents, site owners and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECF&RS), whose views had to be taken into account prior to any proposed amendments to site licence conditions affecting fire safety.

At its meeting held on 28 June 2012, the Scrutiny Panel further considered the licence conditions for permanent residential park home sites and recommended that:

(i) with regard to all the relevant circumstances of the sites, there were justifiable reasons for allowing some further contraventions already in place on the date of the new licence; and

(ii) the benefits of adopting new licence conditions, based on the Model Standards were outweighed by the interests of existing residents and site owners in respect of these issues, having regard to the substantial representations made.

In addition, the Scrutiny Panel also recommended that the Cabinet agreed to reserve the right to charge for licensing functions in accordance with the recent Government Consultation document, ‘A Better Deal For Mobile Home Owners’, as it appeared sensible to do so while the site licence conditions were being reviewed. The Cabinet was also requested to note that this would require primary legislation and, before charges could be introduced, further consultation would be necessary with interested parties and a further report would be submitted to the Cabinet.

The Housing Portfolio Holder thanked the previous Housing Portfolio Holder and previous Leader of the Council, along with the Scrutiny Panel and Officers, for their efforts and expressed his support for the Scrutiny Panel’s recommendations. The issue of insurance for the site owners and residents that contravened the advice of Fire Officers was raised, as this could also affect those residents and site owners who did comply. The Assistant Director of Housing (Private Sector & Resources) responded that this issue had not been directly considered by the Scrutiny Panel but site owners and residents had been made aware of the situation. The cabinet felt that this was a justifiable contravention of fire safety advice, due to the strong feelings of the park home residents. The Assistant Director informed that Cabinet that an inspection of each site would be undertaken and a licence issued during the next few months.

Decision: