Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1960 c. 62


Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act , 1960

(8 & 9 Eliz. 2) 62

An Act to make further provision for the licensing and control of caravan sites, to authorise local authorities to provide and operate caravan sites, to amend the law relating to enforcement notices and certain other notices issued under Part III of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, to amend sections twenty-six and one hundred and three of that Act and to explain other provisions in the said Part III; and for connected purposes.

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

I Caravan Sites

Part I

Caravan Sites

Licensing of caravan sites

Licensing of caravan sites

S-1 Prohibition of use of land as caravan site without site licence.

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.

S-2 Exemptions from licensing requirements.

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.

S-3 Issue of site licences by local authorities.

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.

S-4 Duration of site licences.

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.

S-5 Power of local authority to attach conditions to site licences.

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...

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