Agenda and minutes

Councillor Morris was re-elected as Chair, and Councillor Henson was re-elected as Deputy Chair.

Apologies were received from Councillor Baldwin, Councillor Hannaford and Caroline Aird (Age UK).

Denise Deardon made available copies of doorstep crime information leaflets for distribution which included a ‘no cold callers’ sticker.  She also had copies of her business card for contact details.

The Chair welcomed Brian Doick, President of the National Association of Park Home Residents to the meeting to discuss the latest Government proposals on changes to Park Rules.

The Park owner has until 3 February 2015 to bring new Park Rules into force.  If the park owner has not completed the process by this time, the Rules currently in existence will be void.

The procedure by the Park owner is as follows:

§  The park owner needs to supply the proposal notice to each individual resident and the residents association, which must be signed and and hold the address of where responses can be sent.  This is a consultation process only. 

§  There will then be a 28 day period in which to respond.  It was suggested that residents respond as a group, with reasons as to why any rules are not agreed.

§  Within the next 21 days the park owner needs to respond with the results of the consultation.  This will include how many residents had responsed, how many were in favour/against a park rule and whether it will stand or not.

§  A further 28 days is then available for the residents to make an application to a tribunal if there is no agreement.  The tribunal decision will be final.

§  The park owner needs to submit the master copy of the Park Rules to the local authority.  These will be kept on a register and can also be placed on their website.

The park owner cannot change the rules without going through the whole procedure again.  If an individual is issued with a copy of park rules that differ from that lodged with the local authority, eg a new resident, the owner can be prosecuted.  New home owners cannot challenge the rules when it has been agreed with other residents.

If the park owner does not start the process by 1 October 2014, it will be very difficult to complete the process by February 2015.

An important factor to take into consideration is that the rules should be necessary.

There are a number of prohibited rules, eg any rule which interferes with the sale of a home - in some cases park owners refused to permit sale boards on site.  Any discretionary rules, such as ‘dogs are permitted with the permission of the park owner’ are prohibited - the rules have to state either it can or cannot be done.

Any rules which are, in any case, a criminal offence, do not necessarily need to be included in the park rules.

However, there was some discussion on rules in relation to the requirement of driving licences and tax/insurance on private land.  If vehicles are not taxed, the park owner can assume this to be an abandoned vehicle and remove it.  Reference was made to some untaxed cars on a particular site.  If this is in breach of the current rules, Brian Doick explained that it is the responsibility of the residents to report this to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

The date of the next meeting was noted.