Issue - meetings

Decision:

That the proposed charging structure for Fit and Proper applications, as set out in the Caravan Site Licensing Fee Policy at Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Executive, be approved.

Reasons:

·       To enable the Council to approve the caravan site licensing policy so that fees are charged to managers of relevant protected sites in reflection of the legislation and the costs that will be incurred by the Council to undertake new statutory duties.

·       In addition, to approve the amended caravan site licensing annual fee that enables this fee to be charged from financial year 2022 that is more reflective of the Council’s corporate fee setting methodology.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

1.     Reject the F&P policy in Appendix 1.

2.     Adopt the F&P policy in Appendix 1 - in an amended form.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

The Executive considered a report on new legislation that required relevant and responsible persons of relevant protected caravan sites (caravan sites that require a licence to operate lawfully) to be fit and proper.

The Mobile Homes Requirement for Manager of Site to be a Fit and Proper Person (England) Regulations 2020 (“The Regulations”) required those managing or in control of relevant protected sites to make application for inclusion on the Fit and Proper (F&P) Register. The Regulations also required the Council to assess Fit and Proper applications, publish and maintain a public register and to publish a fees policy (found in the Caravan licensing Fees Policy in Appendix 1 to the report) that justified the costs charged for Fit and Proper applications. The report was introduced by the Deputy Leader of the Council.

The Executive noted that those residents living in mobile home parks were often vulnerable or elderly and the Regulations provided a further layer of protection to that group by ensuring that managers needed to be Fit and Proper. This assurance would assist residents, especially when managing complaints by ensuring the process would be dealt with competently. The exceptions to the Regulations were where the site was run by the same family or run not for profit. Unless exempt, the managers of sites would be required to register with the Council every five years to be included on the Register for which there would be a fee. The formula for calculating the fee was set out in Schedule 1. Registration would include an assessment of the site by the Council and require Disclosure and Barring Service certification, adequate funding arrangements and evidence of the relevant management skills and experience needed to run the site. The Council’s database was ready to receive applications and the Register would be published on the Council’s website where guidance for site managers would also be available. It was noted that the site licensing fee fell outside of the Regulations. The Executive,

RESOLVED:

That the proposed charging structure for Fit and Proper applications, as set out in the Caravan Site Licensing Fee Policy at Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Executive, be approved.

Reasons:

1.     To enable the Council to approve the caravan site licensing policy so that fees are charged to managers of relevant protected sites in reflection of the legislation and the costs that will be incurred by the Council to undertake new statutory duties.

2.     In addition, to approve the amended caravan site licensing annual fee that enables this fee to be charged from financial year 2022 that is more reflective of the Council’s corporate fee setting methodology.

The Committee received a report from Sean Grady, Private Sector Housing and Pollution Lead.  The Committee noted that the new legislation required relevant and responsible persons of caravan sites and those sites that required a licence, to operate lawfully to be fit and proper.   The mobile homes requirement was for a manager to be a fit and proper person and those regulations 2020, required those managing or in control of relevant protected sites to make an application for inclusion on the fit and proper register.   The regulations also required the Council to assess fit and proper applications, to publish and maintain a public register and publish a fees policy which was found in Appendix 1.  This justified the costs charged for fit and proper applications and provided the overall policy to process the applications and make decisions upon them.  Within Schedule 1, the fit and proper fee calculation could be observed along with the variation to the Annual Caravan Site licensing fees.  The Register was completed and published on the Council's website and already listed the sites that needed applications.  The Council had created a procedure to assess applications and recorded them on its database, the policy and procedure was based upon the policy as found in appendix 1 and would enable a consistent approach to application assessments and decisions, working in line with the government guidance, subject-specific training, access to specialist forums, legislation, consultation with local authorities, its own policy and subject-specific study groups which would enable the Council to approach those assessments in a balanced manner against other authorities across England and Surrey. 

Fit and proper regulations required a fee to be made with the application and was mandatory.  The fit and proper regulations give the Council choice to charge an additional fee in relation to fit and proper applications as the annual fee was to only be charged in response to additional enforcement time spent on sites that were not complying with for example conditions imposed on their application.  The fit and proper annual fee would not be charged to sites until a full review of the fees in twelve months-time and obviously a better understanding of the situation at that time in terms of enforcement and compliance.  Those sites would generally only be charged that fee in accordance with the conditions on their licence.  Schedule 1 table 1 referred to the general site licence fee that was paid yearly by all sites with a caravan licence and this fee was not in relation to fit and proper managers specifically and required revision to account for the frequency of visits.

The Committee noted comments made that these Fit and Proper Testing for Managers of Licenced Caravan sites had been long awaited since 2013 and followed a long series of changes in legislation going back to 1983.  The question was raised that if there was an application from a person to be a Fit and Proper Manager of a licenced caravan site, that person may have a completely  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6