Planning & Mobile Homes / Park Homes / Caravan Sites
Planning consent is required in order to use a piece of land to station a caravan, generally unless that caravan is used in conjunction with an existing house. For example, a caravan can be used as an additional bedroom, but not as a completely separate home within the garden of a house.
There are a number of ways of achieving planning consent, including a full application or a 'certificate of lawful use' in situations where the land has been used continuously over a period of time.
The consent that is issued does not normally refer to where caravans have to be stationed, but may have a number of conditions such as the number of units that can be accommodated at one time or the amount of time that the land can be used in any year may be limited.
Once granted, caravan sites do not have the same 'permitted development' rights as other site, so in order to erect any structures or change anything about the site, such as a shed or an porch, it is almost certain that a fresh planning application will need to be made.
In the eyes of the law, a 'caravan' covers a wide variety of mobile homes, including those that are positioned on mobile home sites, park home estates or similar. Essentially, if the structure is accommodation that is capable of being moved from place to place, then it may fall under the definition given in the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960
As well as assisting with licensing matters, we are also able to deal with all situations relating to planning, from applications to appeals, enforcement action and policy work.Please note : the above is a simplification of the law. For specific advice in relation to a particular circumstance, please contact us.
