Memorandum by the British Holiday &
Home Parks Association (BH&HPA) (AH 98)
The British Holiday & Home Parks Association
(BH&HPA) is the national trade body representing the residential
home parks industry in the UK.
THE BRITISH
HOLIDAY & HOME
PARKS ASSOCIATION
The Association's membership owns or manages
some 60% of residential home park pitches in the UK. Economic
consultants Berkeley Hanover, working on a project for the Office
of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)[212]
213 to study the economics of the park homes sector in England
and Wales, identified some 1,700 residential home parks and current
ODPM data suggests that they provide homes for about 200,000 people.
The Economic Survey also established that demand for this sort
of housing is likely to increase.
The role and the nature of park homes are often
poorly understood. Appendix 1 to this submission provides a basic
description of this unique form of housing.
THE DEMAND
FOR PARK
HOMES
In "Economics of the Park Homes Industry"
Berkley Hanover looked specifically at the demand for park home
housing and established the main reasons for choosing mobile home
parks as:
— life-style choice (environment, community
and security, design of the home);
— physical suitability of the home
for their largely elderly occupants (ease and low cost of maintenance,
single level living),
— low purchase price/best value in
the area, and
In particular, the report noted that the most
conservative estimate for annual increase in the demand for park
homes was 2% per annum. It was noted that this demand could well
be far greater with increasing values in housing equity and reduced
savings for retirement. Park owners' experience suggests that
this is an extremely conservative estimate of the demand for park
homes.
Speaking in Bristol on 10 February, at BH&HPA's
Conference 2005, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper noted:
". . . residents tend to have a much
lower monthly income than other sectors of housing . . ."
"The construction of park homes uses
advanced construction techniques which are constantly developing.
Many parks are very security aware with added security around
them. Many have a strong sense of community. Many are located
in idyllic rural and semi-urban locations . . . All of this is
in part due to the majority of park owners who run often exceptional
parks, and lest we forget the important role that many parks play
helping to protect the environment, increasing numbers of parks
are members of the David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme . .
. So park homes do need to be recognised as having an important
role in housing provision, they are the homes of choice for many
people."
And she further described the role that Government
saw for park home development.
"You will be aware that the wider approach
we are taking is part of an attempt to build sustainable communities.
We have recently published a document "Sustainable Communities:
Homes for All" and park homes have a contribution to play
as part of that wider work. "Homes for All" is key to
creating sustainable mixed communities, based on the idea of promoting
choice for people, about where they live, fairness, the opportunity
to buy or to rent a good quality home.
Park homes are an opportunity to promote diversity
in housing choice, to help enhance the environment. If the market
demands it, then they should be able to grow, meeting high standards
as well."
BH&HPA is anxious to ensure that national,
regional and local authorities take adequate and appropriate account
of the contribution that park homes (mobile homes) can make to
the nation's housing stock and their role in satisfying a market
demand at low cost.
For older people especially, park homes offer
high quality, low cost compact homes, in secure park environments,
with the opportunity to buy at relatively modest prices, leaving
funds available to invest in supplementary pension provision.
For many, this allows them to remain in their home area, in quality
housing, with additional pension provision. Park Homes are also
ideal for those wishing to return to their "native"
areas, or to move to different locations to be close to their
relatives. (See Appendix 1)
PLANNING POLICY
Planning policy is a matter of major concern
to the residential park homes sector where it is frequently overlooked
in favour of the traditional bricks-and-mortar housing offered
by the UK's house building companies. This leads, inter alia,
to a reduction in consumer choice. A key concern for residential
home park owners and developers (and a genuine difficulty for
potential residents) is the virtual impossibility of achieving
planning consent for new mobile home pitches within the constraints
of the current planning regime. These park homes could provide
a valuable form of low cost accommodation to meet local needs;
furthermore the wider housing market would benefit as conventional
bricks and mortar homes became available.
As government has given its ringing endorsement
for this unique form of housing, it would therefore anomalous
if national planning guidance (PPG3 and its successor) were not
to acknowledge the availability and contribution of park homes.
Unless the new PPS3 provides support for park homes, it seems
unlikely that the industry will be able to supply homes to meet
the demand for park homes that exists in the market place.
Park home development can fulfil the following
requirements:
— the needs of (usually elderly) people
to make the life-style choice of the environment, community and
security derived from park home living;
— the housing needs of the generally
elderly residents for whom the park home is physically suitable
with single level living and relatively straightforward and low
cost of maintenance;
— the provision of low cost and! or
affordable park home accommodation across all age groups (relative
to the local bricks and mortar equivalent);
— the needs of people wishing to move
to park homes in order to release capital from the sale of their
bricks and mortar housing. The capital is often used to supplement
pension provision or pay off an outstanding mortgage;
— the release of traditional bricks
and mortar housing into the market place;
— the needs of non-local people wishing
to move to an area for retirement purposes, perhaps to get closer
to younger relatives so that they may provide care assistance;
— the needs of non-local people wishing
to move into an area to take up employment; and
— the provision of key-worker housing
through home park development. For example, in Oxfordshire, there
are on-going discussions about the development of park home accommodation
for key workers in the NHS Trust.
AFFORDABILITY
A statement from Keith Hill, Minister for Planning
and Housing, on 14 January 2005 supporting the role of the park
home industry in providing affordable housing said:
"Park Homes are a great source of affordable
housing" . . .
The press release went on to say:
"The cost of a park home is substantially
less than the cost of equivalent bricks and mortar accommodation.
The ability to buy is thus within the scope of a wide range of
potential occupiers. Park homes are easy and inexpensive to maintain
and the surrounding gardens are small and also easily looked after.
Park homes offer high quality compact homes, in secure park environments,
with the opportunity to buy at relatively modest prices. They
are suitable for a wide range of occupiers, from young couples
to elderly single people and should be included within the definition
of affordable housing."
With the current emphasis on low cost and affordable
housing and government backing for factory-built homes (especially
in the South East), it is essential that the potential contribution
of park homes is not overlooked. This is a long established and
well tested form of "factory house-building", which
has been proved to offer residents what they want—affordable
individual detached dwellings, of the design they choose, set
within secure communities.
Joan Clark
Deputy Director General
212 "Economics Of The Park Homes Industry"
Berkeley Hanover Consulting & ODPM October 2002. Back
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