Clwyd West AM Darren Millar, who has warned of a slippery slope towards 'trailer park ghettos' in the region, arranged the meeting which was attended by caravan park owners, North Wales Police, Conwy County Borough Council and the Assembly's Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration, Jocelyn Davies. 

 

It is estimated that there may be thousands of people in North Wales using caravans on holiday parks as their main home. Evidence of the problem includes 7,000 more people being registered with GPs in Conwy and Denbighshire than official population statistics for the counties.

 

In addition to this, studies undertaken by Conwy and Denbighshire identified people living on caravan parks and sending their children to school, claiming housing benefit, receiving support from social services. They also confirmed that hundreds of people using free bus passes cited caravans as their main addresses.

 

Darren Millar said, 'North Wales has some of the very best holiday parks in the country and I'm proud to have such high quality parks in my constituency.

 

'Tourism is the bread and butter of the North Wales economy and many of the visitors that spend in the region stay in accommodation on our caravan parks.

 

'It is crucial that we do not allow the industry to decline and that people do not see holiday parks as low cost a low cost solution to their housing needs.

 

'The majority of park owners are responsible people who manage their parks well, but the Deputy Minister has agreed to consider improving the regulation of the caravan industry to provide extra safeguards against this problem and to ensure that unscrupulous park owners do not go unpunished when they break the rules.'

 

He added, 'Local authorities also have a duty to enforce against parks where they do not take their responsibilities seriously - they must do a better job if we are to see this problem resolved.'