Agenda item

Purpose of report

The purpose of the report is to present the options and agree the approach that will be applied to the upcoming annual pitch fee review process for April 2023.

Recommendations

That the Cabinet Member for Housing and Preventing Homelessness takes note of the recommendations in this report and agrees to one of the following options:

Option 1: Increase Park Homes pitch fees by 6% from 1^st April 2023 or

Option 2: Increase Park Homes pitch fees by the Retail Price Index (RPI) for England at the rate set in January 2023 from 1^st April 2023.

The Cabinet Member agreed to Option 1: Increase Park Homes pitch fees by 6% from 1April 2023.

Clare Hardwick, Head of Private Sector Housing, introduced the report.

The purpose of the report was to present the options and agree the approach that would be applied to the upcoming annual pitch fee review process in April 2023.

The officer noted that the RPI for January would not be published until 15 February 2023 and was expected to be 15%. 

Residents Consortium questions

Maria Coles advised that they had not received the agendas in the post and had been supplied with paper copies at the beginning of the meeting.  They therefore had not had time to read through the papers thoroughly.  Maria asked whether park homes were eligible for housing benefit and the officer confirmed that some residents were in receipt of this.

Members' questions

In response to members' questions, officers clarified:

·         In the report, under section 7 an outline is provided of what a 6% increase looks like in monetary terms.  For a small plot it would be £2.13 per week and a double plot £2.67 per week.

·         The RPI rate that is worked to, under the framework of legislation, is the published RPI rate 28 days prior to the review date.  Therefore, if the RPI rate is announced as 4% on 15 February, that would be the rate the service would work to and would not go above it.

·         There was no specific discretionary fund available for those facing difficulties paying the increase.  Officers worked closely with residents and carry out due diligence to put them in touch with any additional funding or support that they were not currently accessing.

·         The Government made an announcement shortly after Christmas, ensuring that all energy grant funding that went directly to landlords was passed onto the tenants.   The charges levied on residents by PCC were significantly lower than the business cap bought in by the Government over the summer. 

Councillor Comments

Councillor Wemyss and Councillor Madgwick considered a 6% increase to be reasonable but agreed that, in the unlikely event RPI is lower than 6%, consideration should be given to fluctuating the increase in line with the lower RPI.

The Chair's summing up

Councillor Sanders noted the service was trying to mitigate the cost-of-living crisis for everyone and that some of the residents of the Park Homes would be subject to the forthcoming increases in mortgage rates and interest rates. He advised he would have liked to use the lower CPI figure for the increase but noted that legally this could not happen.   The only sensible option available was to increase the pitch fees by an average over the year, in order that costs can be covered, and therefore the rate of 6% was approved, with the proviso that should the RPI rate be lower than 6%, officers would consider their discretionary powers to reduce the rate of increase in line.

Decision

The Cabinet Member:

·         Noted the recommendations in the report and agreed to Option 1: Increase Park Homes pitch fees by 6% from 1 April 2023.

·         Noted that an annual report will be brought to the Cabinet Member for Housing and Preventing Homelessness for decision before each pitch fee review process commences.