REPORT
REPORT OF
COMMUNITY SERVICES
DIRECTORATE
MEETING
DATE
ITEM NO
PUBLIC PROTECTION
COMMITTEE
23RD
FEBRUARY
2012
4
HURST LEA LEISURE PARK, CARTFORD LANE, LITTLE ECCLESTON
Public Item
This item is for consideration in the public part of the meeting.
Summary: To consider an application to amend Condition 23, of the existing site licence,
relating to the occupancy of the caravans on a licensed site. The applicant is seeking to
move and reduce the existing closure period of 6 weeks (presently 15th January to 28th
February) to 3 weeks. This will allow occupancy during the February school half term
break, ,while retaining the designated status as a holiday caravan site.
Recommendation/s
The Committee are asked to determine the application to amend condition 23 of the site
licence to move and reduce of the existing closure period.
The item falls within the following Portfolio Holders Brief:
Community & Social Wellbeing
Councillor Cheryl Little
Report
1. This application relates to Hurst Lea Leisure Park, Cartford Lane, Little Eccleston. The
site is licensed under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, for 30
holiday static caravans.
2. An initial application was received from the site owner in September 2011 to amend
Condition 23 of the site licence, for all year round holiday use of the site.
Continued....
3. Condition 23 currently states “Caravans shall be used solely for human habitation as
th
th
static holiday caravans and shall not be occupied from 15 January to 28 February in
any year”.
4. On the 2nd December 2011 the Public Protection Committee refused the application on
the following basis:
“that allowing all year round occupation would de facto allow full time residential use of the
site, because the Committee do not accept that Condition 23 provides adequate
assurances of holiday use of the site would put undue strain on local facilities such as
health services and the highway network”.
5. The applicant wishes to put forward a proposal as detailed in Appendix 1. The proposal
is to allow holiday occupation during the month of February. This will allow the site to be
used during the school half term break, whilst still maintaining a definitive closure period
on the Park. The closure period on the park will be a 3 week continuous break from 10th
January to 31st January. The new proposed occupancy period would be from 1st February
to 10th January in the following year.
6. The site owner wishes to maintain the designated holiday status of the site. The
proposal to amendment condition 23 of the site licence would not remove this designation,
although there are no planning restrictions relating to occupancy of the site. Furthermore,
to ensure that the site is not occupied on a permanent residential basis Condition 23(a) of
the existing site licence states: “
Condition 23(a) “The holder of the licence must maintain a written record of all persons
over the age of eighteen who occupy a caravan on the site for any continuous period of
more than 21 days. The entry of each person must contain: Name and address”..
Condition 23(b) “The holder must not allow any person who does not provide the address
of their only principle home, or whose only or principle home is on the site, to occupy a
caravan on the site for any continuous period of more than 21 days”.
Condition 23(c) “The site owner must not permit delivery of post to individual caravans on
the site and must not make any arrangements for posts addressed to individuals
occupying caravans on the site to be kept for or collected by them”.
Condition 23(d) “The holder of the site licence must require persons residing at the site to
produce evidence of a primary residence by way of a utility bill, tax bill or other official
document”.
7. The regulatory history of the site is as follows:
The site has been a licensed caravan site since 1961 following the granting of
planning permission. No planning restrictions relating to occupancy were imposed
at the time. In his original application for a site licence, the owner stipulated a
restriction on occupancy. The restriction imposed at the time, were that caravans
shall not be used for human habitation between 1st November and the following
28th February.
Following a request by the site owner, the restricted period was amended in
February 2001 to 1 December -14 January inclusive
Following a further request by the site owner, the restricted period was again
amended in November 2005 to 15 January to 28 February inclusive (the present
position).
8. Caravan site licences are issued by the Community Services Directorate. The Authority
has discretion to attach conditions when issuing a site licence under Section 5 of the Act.
Section 5 states “A licence issued by a Local Authority in respect of any land may be so
issued subject to such conditions as the authority may think it necessary or desirable on
the occupier of the land”.
9. It must be noted that the Court of Appeal have held that a condition designed solely to
improve visual amenities for the benefit of persons occupying the land imposed solely for
planning considerations was accordingly unlawful. The Court accepted that planning and
other considerations may overlap. The principle purpose of imposing conditions on a site
licence appears to have to be purely in relation to “public health and similar conditions”
regarding the site itself.
10. Under Section 5(6) of the Act the then Secretary of the State specified Model
Standard Conditions to be included within site licences. The types of Model Standard
Conditions include site boundaries; density and spacing between caravans; fire fighting
equipment; storage of LPG gas; electrical installation; water supply; drainage; refuse etc.
When attaching conditions to a site licence the Council have regard to the Models
Standard Conditions.
11. Following the caravan site licence inspection undertaken by officers on 28th November
2011. The applicant has advised this Department that adjustments have been made
during the present closed season, by moving the caravans to meet the prescribed
distances of the licence. Also, painting of verandas with intumescent paint, in accordance
with the manufactures instructions. Prior to the Public Committee meeting, a officer of this
Department will undertake a verification visit, to ensure compliance with the site licence.
12. As a matter of note the following consultees’ views have been sought in relation to the
possible impact of moving and extending the holiday season by a further three weeks
a. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Services;
b. Customer & Operational Services- Waste Management;
c. North Lancashire Primary Care Trust;
d. Lancashire County Council- Highways; and
e. Little Eccleston with Larbreck Parish Council.
The applicant’s agent will be invited to attend the meeting.
IMPLICATIONS
Finance
Legal
Considered in the report.
Community Safety
Human
Equalities
Rights
and
Sustainability
Health & Safety and Risk .
Management
Report Author
Tel
Date
Doc ID
Michael Duck
(01253) 658620
February 2012
Date
Where available for inspection
List of Background Papers
Name of document
Premises File: Hurst Lea
February 2012
Leisure Park
Council Offices
Attached documents:
Appendix 1: Letter of application from John Lambe Associates.
John LambeAssociates
consultants
for planning,designand landscape
BrynCynanFawr
Pontllyfni
Caernarfon
Gwynedd
NorthWalesLL54sEE
teleDhone
01286830320
/ 830940
fax01286830857
www.lohnlambeassociates.co.uk
e-mail:[email protected]
our reference
date
9V/LPT/jjn5.0711
Mr MichaelDuck
Licensing
Team
FyldeBoroughCouncil
St Anne'sTownHall
LythamSt Anne's
Lancashire
FY81LW
f FebruaN2012
Via e-mail and 1stctass post
DearMichael,
Re: Proposedamendmentto CaravanSite Licenceto amend the holiday season at
Hurst Lea Leisure Park. Cartford Lane.Little Eccleston.Preston.PR30YP.
Applicant / Client: Hanley CaravansLtd. The BungalowCaravan Park, 272 Oxctiffe Road,
Heysham,Morecambe.Lancashire.LA3 3EH.
I refer to our e-mail correspondence
and telephonediscussionsfollowingthe Public
Protection
Committeeheldon 2noDecember,
whenthe Committeeresolvedto refusethe
application.
Thiswason the basisthatall yearroundholidayuseof sitewouldde factoallow
full time residential
use of the site and wouldput unduestrainon localfacilitiessuch as
healthservicesandthe highwaynetwork.
As loutlinedat the Committee
meeting,thereare no planningrestrictions
on the planning
consentrelatingto occupancyat Hurst Lea LeisurePark.The planningconsentalready
allowsunrestricted
all yearrounduse.
The Site Licenceapplicationto amendthe holidayseasonshouldbe a straightforward
matter,as a Site Licence should purely relateto the internal factors of the site tayout,
safety and public health and not externalfactors which cannot be governedby the
Site Licence.
In responseto the Committee's
concernsregarding
allowingunrestricted
all yearrounduse
of the HolidayPark,an amendment
proposed
is
thatwouldmaintaina clearlydefinedclosed
periodon the Park.
JohnLambeAssociates
isthetradingnameof JohnLambeAssociates
Lld.
Registered
in England
andWalesNo.3761372.
Registered
Otficei TheOldWoolcombers
Mill
UnionStreetSouth
Halifax
WestYorkshire
HX12LE
aI
T
,
John LambeAssociales- established1971
planning
for: toudsm
rurallanduse,
andleisure,
recreaiion,
conservation,
landscape
reclamation
landscape
archilecture
architeclure
andjnterior
design
photography
aerialandlandscape
planning
appeals
graphic
design
perspectives
architeclural
archlteclural
modelmaking
surveying
(Managing)
Direclor,r' JohnD Lambe
RobinE Lambe
MIH
Jeremy
D Lambe
ABEng
ACIOB
Jonathan
M Lambe
AIHMBICSC
The proposal is to close the holiday park for a clear three week continuousbreak
between10thJanuaryand 31"1January,allowingthe HolidayParkto be open between
1't Februaryand 1Oth
January. Thiswouldallowholidayuseat HurstLea Parkduringthe
FebruaryHalfTermschoolholiday.ThepeoplewhopurchaseHolidayCaravans
on the Park
are maturesemi-retired
or retired.At presentif grandparents
wish to visit the Holiday
Caravanwithgrandchildren
in the Februaryhalftermholidays,
this is not currentlypossible.
Withvaryingschoolholidaysthroughout
the country,the halftermbreakcan nowbe spread
acrossa threeweekwindow.
lmpact on Highways.HurstLea LeisureParkaccommodates
a maximumof 29 Holiday
Caravans.Referenceswere madeat the last PublicProtectionCommitteeto "an undesirable
increasein traffic on the local highways".This was given as a reason for refusingthe
appfication"puftingundue strain on the highwaynetvvork". lt should be noted that the
Highwayconsultation
responsefrom the PrincipalTrafficEngineerdated25thNovember
20'l1 to the previousapplication
(relatingto all year roundholidayuse)clearlystates"l am
not convinced that a highway objection could be sustainedon the basis of impact on
the highway network". The currentproposalis to amendthe seasonopenperiodand is not
for all yearrounduse.Furthermore,
a SiteLicenceshouldpurelyrelatelo the internalfactors
of the sitelayout,safetyand publichealthandnotexternalfactorswhichcannotbe governed
by the SiteLicence.
Undue strain on local facilities. References
were made at the last PublicProtection
Committeeto "full time useof the site wouldput undue strainon local facilitiessuch as health
services".
This was also givenas a reasonfor refusingthe application.
lt shouldbe noted
that in a consultation
responsein 2005fromthe Directorof PrimaryCareat FyldePrimary
CareTrustto the Site Licencedepartment,
in relationto an extension
of Holidayseasonat
HurstLea LeisurePark,the Directorstated:"/ doubtthatany FyldeGP or dentalpracticewill
be greatly affectedby the changeas mostof the resldentswill accessWyre PCT servicesin
GreatEcclestonor Poulton".
In contrast,allowingthe amendedopeningperiodto includethe halftermFebruaryholidays
will bringadditionalrevenueintothe localeconomywith increased
visitorspendingin local
publichouses,fillingstationsandincreased
shops,restaurants,
spending
on localservices.
Holidayparkoperations
contribute
significantly
to sustainable
localcommunities
by providing
a marketfor localgoodsand servicesand facilities.
Dataobtainedin 2008fromthe United
KingdomTourismSurvey(UKTS)findsthefollowingkeyfacts:Eachcaravanholidaypitch
generatesspending of between€6305and 217,952each year into the local economy.
Every two caravan holiday home pitches accounts for one tourism job. In 2008
privatelyownedholidaycaravansgeneratedtouristspendof €446,000,000
(four hundred
and forty six millionpounds).Holidaycaravansthat were let generatedtouristspendof
(six hundredand ninetytwo millionpounds).
€692,000,000
Thereforethe contribution
to the
localeconomyfromholidaycaravansis significant
andcan be fundamental
to the viabilityof
marginallocalbusinesses.
Many local shops and service facilities are very gratefulfor the financial revenue
supportwhich the HolidayParksbringto the localeconomy.
Extendedholidayseasonson holidayparksare fullyin linewithGovernmenl
Guidanceand
Policyrecommendations
sinceMay2006.
purposesby the caravanowner
To ensurethe HolidayCaravansare not usedfor residential
as their mainhome,anyonewho purchases
a HolidayCaravanat HurstLea LeisurePark
has to providedocumentary
evidenceto the Parkownerof theirname,theirmain/ principal
homeaddressand contactteleDhone
number.Thisevidencetakesthe formof a utilitvbill.a
tax bill or a bank statement.An up to date registeris kept by the Park ownerof all parties
who own Holidaycaravanson the site.This rnformation
is used to send out the annual
groundrentinvoices,
whicharesentto the individual's
mainhomeaddress.
There are no planning restrictions at Hurst Lea restricting occupancy, the open
season has thereforebeen determinedby the original planningapproval- Hurst Lea
Leisure Park is an individual case where the planning consent already allows an
unrestrictedholidayseason.The proposedamendmentto the Site Licencewill give a
cleartydefinedclosedperiodbetween1Oth
Januaryand 31stJanuary.
As discussed,I trust the proposedamendmentcan now be supportedby the Public
Protection
Committeeas a clearlydefinedclosedperiodis stillmaintained
on the Holiday
purely
Park. I re-iteratethe fact that the Site Licenceshould
relateto the internalfactorsof
the site layout,safetyand publichealthand not externalfactorswhichcannot be governed
by the SiteLicence.
I would be gratefulif you couldfonvardto me a copy of the CommitteeReportwhen it
becomesavailable
and adviseof the Deoartment's
recommendation
to the PublicProtection
proposal.
Committee
regarding
theamended
JeremyD Lambe
(SV/ Lap/jj/ HurstleaSLfyIdebc3)