To consider the issues related to unauthorised occupation of holiday caravans for enforcement and caravan licencing and allocate resource to reduce the negative impact on the communities.

That the use of the £300,000 allocated to the holiday caravans in the East Lindsey Investment Fund for implementation of proposals outlined in para 2.23 of this report be approved.

A report was presented to note the issues related to unauthorised occupation of holiday caravans for enforcement and caravan licencing and to approve allocating resource to reduce the negative impact on the communities.

During his introduction of the report, the Portfolio Holder for Planning highlighted that East Lindsey was very unique in that it had an estimated 39,000 holiday caravans (over 260 sites) in the district which was a higher concentration than the whole of Western Europe. The Council was aware of some of the holiday caravans becoming occupied as permanent addresses which was a breach of both planning conditions and the site licence conditions. The report highlighted the impact of this unauthorised occupancy and sought approval for resources to undertake monitoring and enforcement actions where breaches were identified.

The full background and details were included at Sections 1 to 3 of the report, pages 130 to 135 of the Agenda refer.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning paid particular tribute to the Group Manager – Enforcement and the Director for Economic Growth for the work they had undertaken over an extended period of time and believed that the paper genuinely set out progress to regularise the volume of holiday caravans, some of which where there were potential breaches of planning conditions and site licenses and also potential unauthorised occupancy.

He added that the Council was committed to taking a careful and a sequential approach to this issue, recognising the care required when dealing with potential vulnerable residents who may be living in accommodation which was unsuitable for permanent occupancy.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning commented that he was very pleased that £300k had been allocated out of the East Lindsey Investment Fund to tackle the issues with holiday caravans and hoped that financial support would continue moving forward.

The Portfolio Holder for Market Towns and Rural Economy highlighted that the issue with holiday caravans had been discussed many times and was pleased to see that serious resource had been allocated to this.  He added that East Lindsey was a unique district given the sheer number of sites and caravans and acknowledged that dealing with the issues may prove difficult to tackle, however was very happy to support the paper.

In response, the Leader of the Council agreed with the comments made and highlighted that it was very important to consider taking a careful and sequential approach to deal with the issues on holiday sites and caravans.

RESOLVED

·       That the report be noted.

·       That the use of the £300,000 allocated to the holiday caravans in the East Lindsey Investment Fund for implementation of proposals outlined in para 2.23 of this report be approved.

Reasons

This proposal will ensure that the Council is fulfilling its statutory duty to act where required to ensure that all sites are compliant with the planning conditions and site licence requirements. This will protect the health, safety and wellbeing of the caravan occupiers and significantly reduce the risk to human life in the event of an emergency (which may require full site evacuation). Taking action also ensures that the caravan sites are only operating within their lawful status as a holiday site which in turn attracts tourism and economic growth to the area.

Other Options

Doing nothing is not a recommended option. The analysis of the issue and its impact has clearly identified that this challenge is having a highly negative impact on the infrastructure, services and facilities provide by the Council and its partners. Therefore, doing nothing is not an option.

N.B.  Phil Norman, Assistant Director – Planning and Strategic Infrastructure left the Meeting at 6.15pm.