Caravan site licensing

Overview

The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 prohibits the use of land as a caravan site unless the occupier holds a site licence issued by the local authority.

There are a number of exemptions to this licensing requirement, such as:

Incidental use within the boundary of a dwelling house
Sites approved by certain exempted organisations for up to 5 caravans
Sites for temporary and special purposes such as caravan rallies, agricultural and forestry workers, building and engineering sites and travelling salesmen
Sites occupied by the local authority
Caravan' refers to all mobile homes including holiday caravans, residential caravans, touring caravans and camper vans

Licence Conditions

The licence will include various conditions that are designed to protect people using or accessing the site. These conditions are based on national model standards and can be varied or removed at any time as circumstances change. Conditions relate to aspects such as site layout, fire precautions, sanitary facilities, etc.

Site inspections

An Environmental Protection Officer will carry out inspections from time to time to ensure that the conditions of the licence are being complied with and that other health and safety risks are being adequately controlled. Inspectors will normally walk the site to check separation distances, numbers of units, structures adjoining caravans, fire provisions, LPG storage areas, toilet blocks etc. The current electrical certificate, landlord gas safety certificates and any other maintenance records will also be inspected.