Park home licence fees policy consultation

A new policy is needed to standardise how park home licence fees are calculated across Dorset. It will replace the policies of the county’s former district and borough councils, which each set their fees differently.   

We need to find out how the policy might impact site owners and park home residents and make sure it is fair. 

On this page:

• how licence fees will be affected
• have your say
• draft policy

How licence fees will be affected

There are currently 4 different ways in which annual fees are calculated, depending on which method the old district and borough councils used previously. Some site owners may pass on a proportion of this fee (depending on the number of homes on your site).

It is proposed that sites will be grouped into the following bands according to the number of homes on each site:

This table can help you understand how the licence fee for a particular site could be affected:

Park home licence fees draft policy

1. Park home fees policy summary

1.1 Introduction

The Mobile Homes Act 2013 amended the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 to allow fees to be charged on park home sites (also known as “Relevant Protected Sites”). This policy sets out those fees showing how they are calculated and how they will be reviewed in the future. Table 1 below is a summary of the fees the council will charge from the date of adoption of this policy. The fees were calculated with reference to The Mobile Homes Act 2013 – a Guide for Local Authorities on Setting Licence Fees.

1.2 Exemptions to this policy

Sites exempted from this policy are those that are;

• for holiday use only
• are only allowed to have caravans stationed on them at certain times of the year
• not “relevant protected sites”

1.3 Enforcement fees

Enforcement fees are not included in this policy. The council may reasonably charge for the costs incurred in carrying out enforcement on Relevant Protected Sites, such as the service of compliance notices. These costs and how they will be administered are set out in the Dorset Council Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy.

2. About the policy

2.1 Setting fees

The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 introduced a licensing system for park home sites. The Mobile Homes Act 2013 amended this legislation and allowed councils to charge fees for certain activities including:

• Applying for a new site licence
• Transferring an existing licence
• Revising site licence conditions
• Annual licence fee
• Depositing site rules

Site owners may recover the cost of annual fees through an increase in pitch fees if they choose to do so.

2.2 Publishing a policy and how the fees are calculated

The Mobile Homes Act 2013 requires Dorset Council to publish a policy for these fees and show how they were reasonably calculated. Appendix 1 in this this policy shows how the fees were calculated on a cost recovery basis. The relevant considerations include; administering applications, issuing licences, carrying out annual inspections, stationery costs, postage, and time spent consulting with other organisations, legal advice, licensing software and travel costs.

2.3 Review of fees

Fees will be amended annually in line with other council fees to take into account inflation. The policy and the fees contained within it will be reviewed on a three year basis with adjustments made up or down accordingly if a deficit or surplus has been accrued.

2.4 Enforcement activities not included

The council may from time to time take enforcement action to remedy breaches of site licence conditions. Charging rates and the considerations taken into account do not form part of this policy.

2.5 Site rules

Site rules are an agreed set of rules for a specific site and are made between the site owner and the residents of a park. Site rules are not the same as site licence conditions and not all sites have adopted a set of site rules. Properly agreed site rules may be deposited with Dorset Council and are made available to view upon request. A fee for depositing site rules is set out in this policy.

2.6 Fit and proper person

Regulations regarding a register of fit and proper persons for managing relevant protected sites has yet to be published by government and will therefore be added to this policy as an addendum if and when they are enacted.

3. Fees

3.1 New site licence fee

The council will charge a fee of £753 in respect to a new application for a Relevant Protected Site licence. See Appendix 1 for cost calculations.

3.2 Annual licence fees

The council will charge an annual licence fee based on the banding of sites in Dorset into five categories. The band range is shown in Table 2.

Fees are calculated using the template shown in Appendix 1 and relate to the time taken to perform various steps in issuing the annual licence. As sites increase in size the average time taken to administer the annual site licence increases. Thus banding site fees is a fairer way of attributing the cost incurred by the council. The cost of an annual licence for each band is shown in Table 3.

Total fees are rounded to the nearest pound.

3.4 Charging of annual site licence fees

The council intends to invoice each Relevant Protected Site in August of each year. The amount payable will cover the Annual Licence Fee for the calendar year the invoice was raised in. 

3.3 Transfer or amendment of a licence

The council will charge two fees to amend a licence.

• A minor amendment fee of £45 will be charged where the amendment is trivial, has no material effect to the licence and does not require an officer to visit the site.
• A major amendment fee of £156 will be charged if the work required to carry out the amendment takes significantly longer to complete. This would include for example a change of ownership request, site boundary change or request to amended conditions. See Appendix 1 for cost calculations.

3.4 Deposit of site rules

Councils are required to deposit site rules that have been properly adopted by relevant protected sites using the prescribed process. Copies of individual deposited site rules will be provided by the council upon request. The council will charge a fee of £50 to deposit a set of site rules.

Appendix 1: Calculation of fees

All fees are rounded to the nearest pound.

A new site licence

The factors that have been taken into account in calculating on average a new site licence fee are as follows:

• handling the initial enquiry
• letter writing
• administration
• site visits
• legal advice
• travel
• drafting licence
• mediation with site owner

The annual licence fee

The factors that have been taken into account in calculating the average annual site licence fee for each band are as follows:

The factors that have been considered in calculating (an average) for an annual site licence fees are as follows:

• letter writing
• administration
• site visits
• travel
• mediation with site owner

Amendments to licences

The factors that have been considered in calculating (an average) for amending a site licence are as follows:

• letter writing
• administration
• site visits
• travel
• mediation with site owner