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Caravans to static holiday caravans is a very popular type of planning application which is becoming increasingly prevalent on holiday parks.
This is being driven by the current demand for holiday caravan ownership and also what can sometimes amount to an incompatibility of uses when there are both touring caravan and static holiday caravan elements within one holiday park.
Such planning applications are generally well received by Local Planning Authorities as, usually, the exchange is confined to the approved and developed footprint of the touring caravan area, with additional land use benefits through a reduction in overall holiday caravan numbers (with statics being larger than touring caravans) and a highway benefit through the cessation of cars towing touring caravans on the local highway network.
Against this background there are sometimes planning challenges to these exchanges on what ordinarily amounts to a seasonal use of land; i.e. a move to more ‘permanence’ with static caravans remaining in situ even when the park is closed. The landscape impacts are therefore year round as opposed to seasonal in this sense.
There have been isolated examples of statics holiday caravans replacing touring caravans without the need for further planning permission. These cases are often presented on the basis that no material change of use of the land would take place. These rare examples are, however, very much dependent on the individual circumstances and operation of the touring caravan site in question.
For example, this type of argument could be advanced on a 12 month, year round, touring caravan site where the touring caravans remain on pitch throughout the year, and sometimes for two or three years without being removed. They are ‘static’ in this sense. The touring caravan site in this scenario has a degree of permanence to it where any proposed replacement with statics would not change the position in either material land use or site character terms.
This is distinctly different to the usual operational scenario with touring caravan parks in that they are a seasonal use of land with the site essentially reverting back to open countryside when not in use during the winter months.
Whilst it is sometimes argued that there is no definition of a touring caravan in law compared to a static holiday caravan, this ignores the case law and principles set out in the judgment of Green and more recently Barton and St. Anne’s Court Dorset Ltd, which each establish that the two caravan uses are indeed different in lawful and land use terms. Furthermore, that it is the ‘change in character’ of the site that makes the exchange of touring caravans with static holiday caravans material in planning terms. In addition, local planning factors such as flood risk and proximity to ecologically sensitive areas can also create material considerations, as do the controlling conditions attached to the touring caravan permission itself.
The distinction between touring caravans and static holiday caravans is often set out within the Local Development Plan. There is of course the further distinction and control afforded by the site licence regimes for touring caravans as opposed to static caravans. Site licensing standards for touring caravans are very different to those for static holiday caravans.
Whilst there are therefore rare, isolated, examples of touring caravans being exchanged for static holiday caravans without the need for further planning permission (under s192 LDC applications for a ‘proposed use’, for example) the generally accepted position is that planning permission is required. There is defined case law and land use evidence that touring caravans and static holiday caravans are different in planning law and there are specific licensing regimes which support this position.