You will need a licence if you own a camp or caravan site. Full planning permission (planning approval or a certificate of lawful use or development) is required before a licence can be granted.
If you are a caravan site occupier, you should have a licence already but you should check that your name, the site name and address is correct and up to date. Also check that the licence corresponds with your planning permission. If not, you should contact us for further advice.
If you have recently become a caravan site occupier, licences are transferable to a new occupier but the law requires us to give consent for the transfer. You should contact us for further advice.
If you are a potential site occupier, you or your legal advisor should check that all the land used for siting caravans has planning permission and that the details correspond with the site licence. If you wish to change the use of the land to a relevant protected site (permanent residential) you must have planning permission before a licence can be issued. You should contact us for further advice.
Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 – First Schedule:
For additional information, please view our temporary pop-up campsites document.
You must complete the relevant application form below:
Please return your completed application to us. Contact us for details.
Holiday, touring and tent site licences are free. Charges only apply to park homes or permanent residential sites. View our licensing fees and charges.
You can find more information in our park home fees policy (pdf / 432 KB) and our fit and proper person fees policy (pdf / 212 KB).
You can pay for your licence online using our secure payment system.
Once an application has been received into us and we determine it to be a valid application (we will notify you of this), we will then aim to complete the licence within 40 working days for caravan sites, or 20 working days for campsites.
Each application will have to comply with the relevant site licence conditions. If you have dual-purpose sites for instance, tents and touring then you may have to combine conditions. Not all conditions will be relevant and an officer can assist you with what standards you will need to comply with.
Read the following conditions:
The Mobile Homes (Requirement for Manager of Site to be Fit and Proper Person) (England) Regulations 2020 introduced a fit and proper person test for the owners or appointed managers of certain mobile home sites (sometimes called park homes sites), unless exempted by the regulations.
Unless the site is exempt, the site owner must either:
Existing site owners operating a relevant protected site must submit an application for the ‘relevant person’ (either themselves or an appointed site manager) for consideration by the council.
We must check that the ‘relevant person’ is a fit and proper person to manage the site and the council will consider several factors for example:
We will also consider whether the relevant person:
We also may consider the conduct of any person associated or formerly associated with the ‘relevant person’ (whether on a personal, work or other basis), if it appears that person's conduct is relevant.
Our fit and proper determination process (pdf / 307 KB) can be viewed to see what criteria must be matched while applying for the application.
The current fee for a fit and proper person application can be viewed on the licensing fees and charges page here.
You will need to provide:
For more information and to obtain a fit and proper person application form please contact us.
A site is exempt if it is "a non-commercial family occupied site". This is a site only occupied by members of the same family and not being run on a commercial basis.
The regulations provide further detail about this exemption. See The Mobile Homes (Requirement for Manager of Site to be Fit and Proper Person) (England) Regulations 2020 on the Government website for more details.
The Mobile Homes (Site Rules) (England) Regulations 2014 lay out the procedure for making, varying and deleting site rules, as well as listing matters on which site rules can and cannot be made. The Regulations require formal consultation between the site owner and residents before the rules are ‘deposited’ with the local authority. You can read the Regulations on the government website.
Information about park homes and the consultation process can be found on the government website.
A clear appeal procedure is provided if a resident wishes to challenge any of the rules proposed.
These site rules are different from the licence conditions, which are enforced by the council. The site rules are a private agreement between the licence holder and tenants living on the site.
Once the site rules have been ‘deposited’ the regulations state that the local authority must establish and maintain a register of site rules of sites in its area and publish that register online. This will also apply to any future amendments or deletions.
If you are thinking about buying a caravan to live in as your main home, it is important to check that the site has the appropriate caravan site licence before you buy.
We also recommend you:
Some holiday parks are open for 12 months of the year, but this does not mean you can live there as your permanent home.
You must have a main address other than your caravan. Site operators should keep a record of each owner’s main residential address and may ask you to provide evidence, such as:
Living permanently in a holiday caravan without having another main home may be a breach of planning and site licensing regulations. In some cases, we may need to take enforcement action.
If you use a caravan as your sole or main home, you may be liable to pay Council Tax.
Paying Council Tax does not mean that living in a holiday home is lawful. Planning and site licensing rules still apply, and enforcement action may have to be taken if necessary.
For more information view our public register.
For more information view our fit and proper person register (xlsx / 23 KB).
For more information view our fit and proper person register (xlsx / 135 KB)
See the rules for Dalton Bridge caravan park (pdf / 2 MB)
See the rules for Millbank Court caravan park (pdf / 568 KB)
For more information view our public register (xlsx / 148 KB).
For more information view our fit and proper person register (xlsx / 26 KB).
See the rules for Ashdown Park here (pdf / 147 KB).
See the rules for Badger Hill Park.
See the rules for Bilton Park here (pdf / 134 KB).
See the rules for Grosvenor Park here (pdf / 82 KB).
See the rules for Langthorpe Mobile Homes Park here (pdf / 91 KB).
See the rules for Little Studley Park here (pdf / 212 KB).
See the rules for Low Bridge Park here (pdf / 156 KB).
See the rules for Lower Dunsforth Park here (pdf / 93 KB).
See the rules for Nidderdale Lodge Park here (pdf / 149 KB).
See the rules for Palace Road Residential Park here (pdf / 135 KB).
See the rules for Quarry Moor and New Park here (pdf / 154 KB).
See the rules for Riverside Park here (pdf / 67 KB).
See the rules for Roecliffe Park here (pdf / 88 KB).
See the rules for Scotton Home Park here (pdf / 247 KB).
See the rules for Shaws Trailer park here (pdf / 118 KB).
See the rules for Springmoor Lodge Park here (pdf / 136 KB).
Caravan sites register Richmondshire
For more information view our fit and proper person register. (xlsx / 22 KB)
For more information view our fit and proper person register (xlsx / 132 KB).
Fit and Proper Persons register
If you can't find the site listed on the registers above, then please view our additional caravan sites register.
Please view our licensing officer decisions document (xlsx / 25 KB) for more information.
For further information, please contact us.
You can find the following relevant legislation on the Government website:
You can tell us about a licensing issue here.