Mancot park home site granted licence after two-year wait
A residential park home site in Mancot that has operated without a license for two years has been now been granted one by Flintshire County Council.
But the authority has imposed strict conditions on the license for Willow Park – including issuing it for just three years rather than its standard five year term – to ensure the site is being managed to the satisfaction of residents.
The license for the Colliery Lane site has been awarded to Ed Gummery, Compliance Manager for site operator Wyldcrest Parks’ just over a year after Flintshire refused to grant the site a license due to complaints by residents.
Committee member Cllr Richard Lloyd said : “At our site visit this week there was a vast improvement on what we saw a year ago.
“Obviously there’s more work to be done there but residents’ relationship with Mr Gummery is a positive one which is good to see and I hope it continues.”
Those living on the site have experienced issues over a number of years with high water bills due to pipe leaks, roads riddled with potholes and rubbish left on vacant plots.
There are currently 170 plots on the site, with 159 of those occupied.
According to case officer Samantha Myller, one of the key reasons for refusal last year was Wyldecrest’s failure to provide an adequate fire risk assessment with concerns about a lack of a safe evacuation plan for properties and no site-wide method of raising a fire alarm.
Following recent site visits. Alastair Horton, Business Fire Safety Education Advisor for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said there had been some progress on fire safety measures.
“There is a lack of fire safety management on the site but having visited since the last inspection report I have seen improvements are underway,” he said.
“The dimension of the roads in some areas of the site are not adequate for a fire appliance, making access an issue in an emergency, however the applicant has indicated this is being looked into.”
The committee agreed to grant a three-year license with a number of specific conditions. These included a fire management plan, including installation of a site-wide fire alert system, large potholes repaired within six weeks and sewage and drainage issues carried out within 30 days of reporting.
Wyldcrest is also mapping the water pipes and electrical wiring on site to make repairs easier in future.
The granting of this license restores Flintshire’s enforcement powers as a licensing authority to ensure site improvements are implemented.
Mr Gummery said he was brought in a year ago to help bring the site back to the required standard and work positively with the local authority and residents.
“I understand the concerns of the council and residents and it’s incumbent on me in my role, employed by the owner of Wyldecrest, to put some of these things right.
“I can see a little bit of ‘them and us’ that appears to have built up that has caused barriers to getting these matters resolved. I’ve done what I can to put things in place for the benefit of both the company and residents.
“We’ve spent considerable funds to comply with regulations and I’m hoping by the end of the month all the major works on site will be finished. We’ve worked well with the residents association and I’m hoping those issues will be ironed out.”
Those works include improvements to the water pipelines the eliminate remaining leaks.
Ken Pierce, chairman of the Willow Park Residents Association, said: “We would prefer the license to be granted for a two-year period then if everything is operating at a level that satisfies the residents and the committee the licensing period could revert back to five years.
“The water issue hasn’t been resolved yet but it has improved. With more work we can get it down to a level and it will be sorted.”
“There are not enough parking spaces. At a tribunal in 2023 it was ruled that there should be a parking space for every property plus one visitor space for every five properties. The site is are still below that.”
Cllr Sam Swash, who has campaigned on behalf of residents for improvements to the site added: “Willow Park has been plagued by years of neglect, broken promises and residents who too often have felt ignored.
“The people who live there have endured leaking drains, crumbling roads, poor lighting and persistent fire safety risks.
“Mr Gummery has been working proactively with residents and communicates openly with the residents association. It is also right to credit the council’s officers and the members of this committee because without your collective and robust approach we simply would not have seen these improvements.
But we cannot mistake partial progress for compliance. The job of this committee is not to reward effort, it is to protect residents and this council from risk.
The Welsh Government’s model standards for park homes are not fit for purpose. They are so vague they might as well not exist. ‘Adequately lit’, ‘good condition’, ‘suitably surfaced’ – these are almost meaningless phrases that have already left residents at this site exposed, living with dangerous potholes, unlit pathways and broken infrastructure because these terms are unenforceable.”
By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter
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