Caravan and mobile home site licences

Find out how to apply for a site licence, how much it costs and the rules and regulations for owning and running a site.

Anyone stationing a caravan or mobile home on land and using it for accommodation will require planning permission for the caravan or static mobile home. It is also true for using the land for residential caravan purposes.

Overview

A licence is required by proprietors of caravan sites and remains indefinite unless surrendered or revoked.  

All caravan sites require a site licence except for those registered with either of the following:

  • Caravan Club (CL) with a maximum of five pitches
  • Camping and Caravan Club (CS) with a maximum of five touring pitches and five tent pitches

Or

  • any site in existence before 1960
  • sites approved by exempted organisations as set out in Schedule 1 of the Caravans Control of Development Act 1960 

All other sites, including single residential sites, also require a site licence issued by the Council.

Site inspections

North Norfolk District Council's officers will do the following:

  • inspect and licence caravan and camping sites
  • investigate complaints
  • conduct unannounced inspections of sites to ensure licence conditions are being upheld

Making a complaint about a site

If you have any complaints or concerns about sites, please contact the Public Protection team using the contact details on this page.

Why do I need a site licence?

Where a site has planning permission, the site owner must have a caravan site licence issued by North Norfolk District Council.

The licence ensures that the standards are being maintained to protect the safety and public health of the users. For example, providing adequate space between the units will reduce the likelihood of fire spreading and ensure that fire precautions are maintained to an appropriate standard. 

Other considerations will be that the electricity supply to the site is safe and that there are adequate facilities in terms of water, sanitation, and recreational space. Due to the location of many caravan parks to the cliff edge, we will monitor the separation distance of caravans to the cliff edge. Caravan park owners must show they have assessed these risks to protect the public from harm.

The site operator's guide to health and safety contains information for site operators to understand better the health and safety expectations to manage sites, including working operations.

How to apply

Applying for a holiday park licence

Complete the application form for any new site. 

Transfer an existing site licence

Complete the request to transfer an existing licence form.

Please send the completed form to:

licensing@north-norfolk.gov.uk 

Or 

By post:

Environmental Health Department
North Norfolk District Council
Holt Road
Cromer
NR27 9EN

Caravan site conditions

Caravan site conditions are specific to the type of site. The general conditions for each site are available below. Planning permissions are individual to each site so conditions may vary.

Residential mobile homes and sites

Site rules

Under current legislation, we must keep and publish an up-to-date register of park home rules.

Sites rules on residential mobile home sites ensure community cohesion and good management of the site. They also make sure that mobile homeowners are clear about the rules that apply to them.

Residential mobile home sites in North Norfolk

Site name and address Site licence Site rules
Alder Country Park, Bacton Road, North Walsham, NR28 0RA Alder Country Park Alder Country Park
Parklands, Green Lane, Pudding Norton, NR21 7LT Parklands Parklands
Walcott Caravan and Chalet Park, Walcott, Coast Road, Norfolk, NR12 0AP Fairview Park Fairview Park
Star Meadow Park, Star Meadow, Oak Street, Fakenham, NR21 9DZ Star Meadow Star Meadow
Norfolk Broads Park, Bridge Road, Potter Heigham, NR29 5JB Norfolk Broads Park Norfolk Broads Park

Changing site rules

The Mobile Homes (Site Rules) Regulations 2014 detail the procedure that a site owner must use when making, varying, or deleting a site rule. They establish the process for consulting on proposed changes, grant appeals rights and require local authorities to keep and publish a register of site rules of sites in their area.

Overview

  1. When a site owner reviews the existing rules or wants to make new ones, they must consult with all mobile homeowners and any qualifying resident's association (QRA). The consultation must be open for all responses for a minimum of 28 days. Within 21 days of the end of the consultation, the site owner must send a consultation response document to all homeowners. It shows them the result of the consultation and which site rules are to be adopted.
  2. If a mobile homeowner wishes to appeal the site owner's decision to adopt, delete or vary a suite rule, they must apply to the Residential Property Tribunal (RPT) within 21 days of receiving the consultation response document.
  3. Once the new rules are agreed upon, the site owner must deposit the new rules with North Norfolk District Council within 42 days after serving the consultation response document. If an appeal has been lodged, the site owner can only send the site rules once the appeal has been determined. Once the appeal has been decided, the site owner has 14 days to send the site rules to the Council unless specified by the tribunal.

The site owner may set site rules on residential caravan sites, and the Council does not enforce these rules. However, some rules may be a duplicate of the site licence conditions. The site rules are part of the contract between the homeowner and site owner and supplement the Mobile Homes Act Agreement.

You can find more information about site rules and the process for reviewing on the government website. 

Site licencing

Residential mobile homes sites known as 'park home sites' and mixed sites with residential and holiday mobile homes will need to be licenced under current legislation the Mobile Homes Act 2013. 

Site owners of existing sites will need to apply for a new licence under this legislation because the licence they currently hold for residential caravans and mobile homes under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 will no longer be valid after 1 April 2015. However, for mixed sites, the old licence will continue to apply for the site's holiday and touring caravan element.

Fit and proper person register

Planning permission for residential mobile homes will need to be in place. And the site owner or manager must be a 'fit and proper' person to hold a licence. 

Complete the fit and proper person application form to be included on the register.

Fees

The mobile homes fees policy details our fees for site owners. 

Are you buying or selling an existing site?

We advise owners of residential sites who intend to sell or prospective buyers of sites to contact the Council to discuss the implications for them well before any site sale

Licence conditions

If the general conditions for residential sites are not met, the Council can take enforcement action, including serving compliance or fixed penalty notices. Site licence conditions protect residents' health, safety and welfare and cover things like drainage and distances between mobile homes. 

Related content

For site owners: 

British Holiday and Home Park Association  

For site residents:

National Association of Park Home Residents

Contact us

Please contact our Public Protection and Environmental Health team if you have questions about caravan site licensing or the standards of accommodation being provided in a mobile home or caravan site.