Caravan site licence

The Caravan and Control of Development Act 1960 prohibits the use of land as a caravan site unless the occupier holds a site licence. This applies to permanent residential sites, holiday sites and touring caravan sites. A site can range from a single caravan on a small plot of land to large sites with hundreds of units.

Eligibility

The applicant must be entitled to use the land as a caravan site. Licences will not be issued to applicants who have had a site licence revoked within three years of the current application.

How to apply

To apply for a caravan site licence in South Derbyshire, applicants must complete and submit an application form. (pdf, 119kb)

You will need to include details of the following:

  • the type of caravan site for which the licence is required - permanent, residential, seasonal or touring
  • the maximum number of caravans that are proposed to be stationed on site at any one time
  • a layout plan of the site, to a scale of not less than 1/500, showing the boundaries of the site, the positions of caravan standings, and, where appropriate, the positions of roads and footpaths, toilet blocks, stores and other buildings, food and surface water drainage, water supply, recreation spaces, fire points and parking spaces
  • details of the arrangements for refuse disposal and for sewage and waste water disposal.

Where the applicant already has planning permission, we must issue the licence within two months of the application being submitted. If planning permission is not obtained until later, the licence must be issued within six weeks of permission being obtained. In each case the period may be extended by written agreement between the applicant and the Council.

Failed applications

You are advised to take up any issue with us first. If a licence holder is refused an application to alter a condition they can appeal to the Magistrates' Court. The appeal must be made within 28 days of the written notification of the refusal and a notice of appeal must be served on us.

Site licence conditions

To uphold safety at a site, any new licence will be subject to conditions. There are three different sets of conditions, depending upon the type of caravan site:

We may, at any time, alter conditions by varying or cancelling them, by adding new ones, or by a combination of these. Before doing so, we are obliged to allow the licence holder to make representations. No alteration becomes effective until we have provided written notification to the licence holder.

An appeal against conditions attached to a site licence must be made to the Magistrates' Court within 28 days of the licence being issued.

Transferring a site licence

If the site is to be sold or transferred to another person or named body, the licence holder should complete the transfer of a licence application form (pdf, 135kb) and send it to us with the current site licence.

Upon receipt of a complete application, a new licence will be prepared, together with the current licence conditions and these will be forwarded to the new licence holder. A site inspection may also take place.

Our register (pdf, 70kb) lists all sites in South Derbyshire that hold a caravan site licence.

Further advice

The Government has extended the role of the Leaseholder Advisory Service (LEASE) - telephone 020 7383 9800, so that park home residents can contact them for help and advice. This will be particularly helpful for matters where we do not have a role, such as site rules, pitch fees or the selling/gifting of park homes.