Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960

Licensing of caravan sites

1 Prohibition of use of land as caravan site without site licence

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, no occupier of land shall after the commencement of this Act cause or permit any part of the land to be used as a caravan site unless he is the holder of a site licence (that is to say, a licence under this Part of this Act authorising the use of land as a caravan site) for the time being in force as respects the land so used.

(2) If the occupier of any land contravenes subsection (1) of this section he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction, in the case of the first offence to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty pounds.

(3) In this Part of this Act the expression " occupier " means, in relation to any land, the person who, by virtue of an estate or interest therein held by him, is entitled to possession thereof or would be so entitled but for the rights of any other person under any licence granted in respect of the land:

Provided that where land amounting to not more than four hundred square yards in area is let under a tenancy entered into with a view to the use of the land as a caravan site, the expression " occupier " means in relation to that land the person who would be entitled to possession of the land but for the rights of any person under that tenancy.

(4) In this Part of this Act the expression " caravan site " means land on which a caravan is stationed for the purposes of human habitation and land which is used in conjunction with land on which a caravan is so stationed.

2 Exemptions from licensing requirements

No site licence shall be required for the use of land as a caravan site in any of the circumstances specified in the First Schedule to this Act and that Schedule shall have effect accordingly.

3 Issue of site licences by local authorities

(1) An application for the issue of a site licence in respect of any land may be made by the occupier thereof to the local authority in whose area the land is situated.

(2) An application under this section shall be in writing and shall specify the land in respect of which the application is made; and the applicant shall, either at the time of making the application or subsequently, give to the local authority such particulars, set out in such form, as the Minister may from time to time prescribe by order made by statutory instrument.

(3) A local authority may on an application under this section issue a site licence in respect of the land if, and only if, the applicant is, at the time when the site licence is issued, entitled to the benefit of a permission for the use of the land as a caravan site granted under Part III of the Act of 1947 otherwise than by a development order.

(4) If at the date when the applicant duly gives the particulars prescribed under subsection (2) of this section he is entitled to the benefit of such a permission as aforesaid, the local authority shall issue a site licence in respect of the land within two months of that date or, if the applicant and the local authority agree in writing that the local authority shall be afforded a longer period within which to grant a site licence, within the period so agreed.

(5) If the applicant becomes entitled to the benefit of such a permission as aforesaid at some time after duly giving the particulars prescribed under subsection (2) of this section the local authority shall issue a site licence in respect of the land within six weeks of the date on which he becomes so entitled or, if the applicant and the local authority agree in writing that the local authority shall be afforded a longer period within which to grant a site licence, within the period so agreed.

(6) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, a local authority shall not at any time issue a site licence to a person who to their knowledge has held a site licence which has been revoked in pursuance of the provisions of this Part of this Act less than three years before that time.

4 Duration of site licences

(1) Where permission for the use of any land as a caravan site has been granted under Part III of the Act of 1947 otherwise than by a development order, and has been so granted in terms such that it will expire at the end of a specified period, any site licence issued in respect of the land by virtue of the existence of that permission shall expire, and shall be stated to expire, at the end of that period; but, subject as aforesaid, a site licence shall not be issued for a limited period only.

(2) If after a site licence is issued the terms of the said permission are varied by the Minister on an appeal under section sixteen of the Act of 1947, the local authority who issued the licence shall make in the site licence any alteration required to secure that its terms comply with the provisions of the foregoing subsection.

5 Power of local authority to attach conditions to site licences

(1) A site licence issued by a local authority in respect of any land may be so issued subject to such conditions as the authority may think it necessary or desirable to impose on the occupier of the land in the interests of persons dwelling thereon in caravans, or of any other class of persons, or of the public at large; and in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, a site licence may be issued subject to conditions—

(a) for restricting the occasions on which caravans are stationed on the land for the purposes of human habitation, or the total number of caravans which are so stationed at any one time ;

(b) for controlling (whether by reference to their size, the state of their repair or, subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, any other feature) the types of caravan which are stationed on the land ;

(c) for regulating the positions in which caravans are stationed on the land for the purposes of human habitation and for prohibiting, restricting, or otherwise regulating, the placing or erection on the land, at any time when caravans are so stationed, of structures and vehicles of any description whatsoever and of tents;

(d) for securing the taking of any steps for preserving or enhancing the amenity of the land, including the planting and replanting thereof with trees and bushes ;

(e) for securing that, at all times when caravans are stationed on the land, proper measures are taken for preventing and detecting the outbreak of fire and adequate means of fighting fire are provided and maintained;

(f) for securing that adequate sanitary facilities, and such other facilities, services or equipment as may be specified, are provided for the use of persons dwelling on the land in caravans and that, at all times when caravans are stationed thereon for the purposes of human habitation, any facilities and equipment so provided are properly maintained.

(2) No condition shall be attached to a site licence controlling the types of caravans which are stationed on the land by reference to the materials used in their construction.

(3) A site licence issued in respect of any land shall, unless it is issued subject to a condition restricting to three or less the total number of caravans which may be stationed on the land at any one time, contain an express condition that, at all times when caravans are stationed on the land for the purposes of human habitation, a copy of the licence as for the time being in force shall be displayed on the land in some conspicuous place.

(4) A condition attached to a site licence may, if it requires the carrying out of any works on the land in respect of which the licence is issued, prohibit or restrict the bringing of caravans on to the land for the purposes of human habitation until such time as the local authority have certified in writing that the works have been completed to their satisfaction; and where the land to which the site licence relates is at the time in use as a caravan site, the condition may, whether or not it contains any such prohibition or restriction as aforesaid, require the works to be completed to the satisfaction of the authority within a stated period.

(5) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that a condition attached to a site licence shall be valid notwithstanding that it can be complied with only by the carrying out of works which the holder of the site licence is not entitled to carry out as of right.

(6) The Minister may from time to time specify for the purposes of this section model standards with respect to the layout of, and the provision of facilities, services and equipment for, caravan sites or particular types of caravan site; and in deciding what (if any) conditions to attach to a site licence, a local authority shall have regard to any standards so specified.

6 Failure by local authority to issue site licence

Where a local authority, being required under section three of this Act to issue a site licence in respect of any land, fail to do so within the period within which they are required to issue a site licence by that section, no offence under section one of this Act shall be committed in respect of the land by the person by whom the application for the site licence was made at any time after the expiration of the said period and before a site licence is issued in pursuance of the said application.

7 Appeal to magistrates' court against conditions attached to site licence

(1) Any person aggrieved by any condition (other than the condition referred to in subsection (3) of section five of this Act) subject to which a site licence has been issued to him in respect of any land may, within twenty-eight days of the date on which the licence was so issued, appeal to a magistrates' court acting for the petty sessions area in which the land is situated; and the court, if satisfied (having regard amongst other things to any standards which may have been specified by the Minister under subsection (6) of the said section five) that the condition is unduly burdensome, may vary or cancel the condition.

(2) In so far as the effect of a condition (in whatever words expressed) subject to which a site licence is issued in respect of any land is to require the canning out on the land of any works, the condition shall not have effect during the period within which the person to whom the site licence is issued is entitled by virtue of the foregoing subsection to appeal against the condition nor, thereafter, whilst an appeal against the condition is pending.

8 Power of local authority to alter conditions attached to site licences

(1) The conditions attached to a site licence may be altered at any time (whether by the variation or cancellation of existing conditions, or by the addition of new conditions, or by a combination of any such methods) by the local authority, but before exercising their powers under this subsection the local authority shall afford to the holder of the licence an opportunity of making representations.

(2) Where the holder of a site licence is aggrieved by any alteration of the conditions attached thereto or by the refusal of the local authority of an application by him for the alteration of those conditions, he may, within twenty-eight days of the date on which written notification of the alteration or refusal is received by him, appeal to a magistrates' court acting for the petty sessions area in which the land to which the site licence relates is situated; and the court may, if they allow the appeal, give to the local authority such directions as may be necessary to give effect to their decision.

(3) The alteration by a local authority of the conditions attached to any site licence shall not have effect until written notification thereof has been received by the holder of the licence, and in so far as any such alteration imposes a requirement on the holder of the licence to carry out on the land to which the licence relates any works which he would not otherwise be required to carry out, the alteration shall not have effect during the period within which the said holder is entitled by virtue of the last foregoing subsection to appeal against the alteration nor, thereafter, whilst an appeal against the alteration is pending.

(4) In exercising the powers conferred upon them by subsection (1) and subsection (2) of this section respectively, a local authority and a magistrates' court shall have regard amongst other things to any standards which may have been specified by the Minister under subsection (6) of section five of this Act.

9 Provisions as to breaches of condition

(1) If an occupier of land fails to comply with any condition for the time being attached to a site licence held by him in respect of the land, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction, in the case of the first offence to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty pounds.

(2) Where a person convicted under this section for failing to comply with a condition attached to a site licence has on two or more previous occasions been convicted thereunder for failing to comply with a condition attached to that licence, the court before whom he is convicted may, if an application in that behalf is made at the hearing by the local authority in whose area the land is situated, make an order for the revocation of the said site licence to come into force on such date as the count may specify in the order, being a date after the end of the period of fourteen days mentioned in subsection (1) of section eighty-four and subsection (2) of section eighty-seven of the Magistrates' Courts Act, 1952, as the period within which the person convicted may bring an appeal, whether by case stated or otherwise; and if before the date so specified an appeal is so brought the order shall be of no effect pending the final determination or withdrawal of the appeal.

The person convicted or the local authority who issued the site licence may apply to the magistrates' court which has made such an order revoking a site licence for an order extending the period at the end of which the revocation is to come into force, and the magistrates' court may, if satisfied that adequate notice of the application has been given to the local authority or, as the case may be, the person convicted, make an order extending that period.

(3) Where an occupier of land fails within the time specified in a condition attached to a site licence held by him to complete to the satisfaction of the local authority in whose area the land is situated any works required by the condition to be so completed, the local authority may carry out those works, and may recover as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction from that person any expenses reasonably incurred by them in that behalf.

10 Transfer of site licences and transmission on death, etc.

(1) When the holder of a site licence in respect of any land ceases to be the occupier of the land, he may, with the consent of the local authority in whose area the land is situated, transfer the licence to the person who then becomes the occupier of the land.

(2) Where a local authority give their consent to the transfer of a site licence, they shall endorse on the licence the name of the person to whom it is to be transferred and the date agreed between the parties to the transfer as the date on which that person is, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, to be treated as having become the holder of the licence.

(3) If an application is made under subsection (1) of this section for consent to the transfer of a site licence to a person who is to become the occupier of the land, that person may apply for a site licence under section three of this Act as if he were the occupier of the land, and if the local authority at any time before issuing a site licence in compliance with that application give their consent to the transfer they need not proceed with the application for the site licence.

(4) Where any person becomes, by operation of law, entitled to an estate or interest in land in respect of which a site licence is in force and is, by virtue of his holding that estate or interest, the occupier of the land within the meaning of this Part of this Act he shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be treated as having become the holder of the licence on the day on which he became the occupier of the land, and the local authority in whose area the land is situated shall, if an application in that behalf is made to them, endorse his name and the said date on the licence.

11 Duty of licence holder to surrender licence for alteration

(1) A local authority who have issued a site licence may at any time require the holder to deliver it up so as to enable them to enter in it any alteration of the conditions or other terms of the licence made in pursuance of the provisions of this Part of this Act.

(2) If the holder of a site licence fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement duly made under this section he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

12 Responsibility of occupier of land subject to a licence or special tenancy

(1) It shall be a condition of any licence or of any such tenancy as is mentioned in subsection (3) of section one of this Act that if any person in exercise of rights under the licence or tenancy does anything which would constitute an offence under that section if that person were the occupier of the land, the person who is the occupier of the land may take possession of the land and terminate the licence or tenancy; and in determining whether the occupier of the land has permitted the land to be used as a caravan site account shall be taken of any powers exercisable by him under this subsection.

(2) The occupier of any land subject to a licence or subject to any such tenancy as is mentioned in subsection (3) of section one of this Act shall have the right, as against any person claiming under the licence or tenancy, to enter on the land and do anything on the land reasonably required for the purpose of complying with any conditions attached to a site licence issued with respect to the land.