Questions raised over 'fit and proper person' to manage Strande Park

The council has said it is reviewing an application for a ‘fit and proper person’ to manage Strande Park – amid ongoing concerns over activities there.

This home park site in Cookham suffered the sudden removal of fences and hedges between the park homes in August.

Owner of the site, Fred Doe (formerly known as Maurice Sines) said this had to be done because the licence conditions require the removal of flammable material between the homes.

Legal issues are ongoing and are complex, Windsor and Maidenhead council has said – with more and more questions amassing from residents about what is happening.

Questions have been raised over the impact on the home park site of not currently being operated by a legally defined Fit and Proper Person (FPP).

Law prohibits the use of land as a residential mobile home site unless the local authority ‘is satisfied that the owner or manager of the site is a fit and proper person to manage the site.’

Last week at a full council meeting, member of the public Andrew Hill asked about the site licence and the FPP test.

Speaking to the Advertiser, Mr Hill raised concerns about the confusion regarding who is actually responsible for Strande Park.

Though Mr Doe now owns the site, technically the site licence holder is still Holly Lodge (Kingswood) Limited, the previous site owner.

Sines Park Holdings Ltd, the new owners, has made an application for the transfer of the site licence.

But given these complications, there is not currently a completed FPP test – and Mr Hill worries that this means nobody is technically currently responsible for it.

The council confirmed that the site licence holder is responsible for complying with licences conditions, and that the FPP process is ongoing.

The Royal Borough ‘has received an application in relation to the site and is obtaining specialist legal advice,’ as spokesperson said.

The local authority ‘was not made aware of the sale of this site by the previous owner until after it had taken place’ and has ‘no power to stop anyone buying a site’, the spokesperson added.

Officers can only complete the FPP test once the application is received.

Councils currently also have no power to require this test to be completed upfront as a condition of any sale of the site from one owner to the next, the Borough said.

Sines Park Holdings Ltd has nominated someone to be the site manager, Michelle Rider, for which an FPP application has been submitted.

This nominee is ‘not a director, officer or shareholder of the company which holds the licence’, the council has confirmed.

The application was received in late August and ‘is currently being considered.’

The Borough has said it is ‘obtaining specialist legal advice’ on the application. Legal advice is also being taken ‘given the wider concerns about activities at the site.’