Published: Thursday, 24th February 2022
A residential caravan site owner has been successfully prosecuted by the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk for letting substandard accommodation to tenants.
Mrs Ivy Buckley, of School Road, Tilney St Lawrence, had been letting leisure caravans as residential accommodation that did not meet the requirements of her licence at Springfield Caravan Park, Tilney St Lawrence.
Cllr Sam Sandell, cabinet member for people and communities, said: “Everyone deserves to live in accommodation which is safe and warm.
“This accommodation was designed for holiday parks, not year-round residential letting, so it was poorly insulated and poorly heated.”
“Council officers undertook a thorough investigation and issued a compliance notice. Mrs Buckley was given time to comply with this notice, including extra time due to COVID, and when she failed to do so, a prosecution was launched.”
“Where the council finds evidence of tenants living in substandard accommodation it will take action to protect them.”
After negotiations to make improvements failed, in November 2019 the borough council served Mrs Buckley with a compliance notice. This required her to replace unsuitable old static caravans that did not meet the requirements of BS3632 for residential caravans, as required by her site licence.
Due to Covid the date for compliance was extended to 15 June 2021, but a re-inspection in August 2021 found there were still tenants in some of the sub-standard original caravans.
The Council launched a prosecution for failure to comply with the conditions of a Compliance Notice under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 (as amended by the Mobile Homes Act 2013).
At King’s Lynn Magistrates Court on 23 February Mrs Buckley pleaded guilty to this failure to comply. She was fined £1000 and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge and £3519 in costs.