RBWM leader blasts former Tory council for stripping out experts who could help with Strande Park debacle

The leader of the council has said the Borough is appointing an expert in home parks following the Strande Park debacle – and lambasted the previous administration for ‘stripping out’ this expertise.

The beleaguered mobile home site in Cookham has faced drastic and unwanted works on the land, including ripped up hedges and fences, to the alarm and dismay of multiple residents.

Though the council has said it is looking at all legal avenues, there are a number of complications.

At a meeting of the full council on Tuesday, the council was queried about its duty to protect mobile home residents using a Fit and Proper Person (FPP) test of their proposed management.

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.’

The council has been aware of this mandatory statutory duty since 2021. Resident Andrew Hill asked council leader Simon Werner why the Borough ‘has chosen not to comply’ with it.

In a written response, Cllr Werner stated: “Sadly, the previous administration didn’t treat the creation of the proper persons register as a priority.

“Since the new administration has arrived, we have asked officers to treat this as a priority and they are currently reviewing the Caravan Site Licensing procedure which includes the FPP process.

“The situation at Strande Park is much more complex however, as it involves many legal processes including the FPP register, planning issues, license issues and compliance issues.

“These legal processes are taking a long time which we are all finding very frustrating.

“We do however need named witness statements to pursue many of these legal processes and I have told the officers to do everything they can to create a safe process for them to give their statements.”

At the Tuesday night meeting, Cllr Werner added:

“Twenty years ago, when I was last helping run the council, we had officers with expertise in park home sites. Over the past 16 years, this expertise has been stripped out and not replaced, leaving some of our residents in an incredibly vulnerable position.

“We have started cleaning up the mess. We have recently recruited someone with some experience of park homes. She is starting imminently.

“I’m sure we’re going to be able to get this sorted out.”

Former Conservative leader of the council Andrew Johnson was contacted for comment.