Skegness Kingfisher caravan owners are still taking East Lindsey Council to court of their new age restriction rules
East Lindsey hoped the bad publicity and bad feeling was over after they agreed to backtrack on their age restriction rule.
In 2019, the council announced they were bringing in new rules where any caravan that was 15 years or over would be removed from Ingoldmells Kingfisher Caravan Park. That rule was to come into force at the end of this year.
After the bad publicity and the backlash from local and national press, local residents and business owners, the council backtracked and offered a five-year extention. However, it seems some of the caravan owners on the Kingfisher caravan park near Skegness have other ideas.
Caravan owners on the Lincolnshire Kingfisher caravan park were shocked when East Lindsey Council who own park brought in new age restriction rules.
New caravan owners claim the new rules were not mentioned to them by the sales team when they purchased pre-owned caravans that were coming up to the 15-year-age limit.
Some of those new owners told Lincolnshire News & Lifestyle that after spending more than £15,000 on their caravan, they would have to have it removed in a couple of years or sell it to a trader for less than £1,000.
The council hoped the extention would keep the caravan owners on the Kingfisher Caravan Park happy. That olive branch has not worked and is an insult according to some owners.
East Lindsey Council hoped that the five-year extention would put a stop to the bad press and allow them to move forward with their plans. But the headache continues as more than 100 caravan owners on the Ingoldmells caravan park are pursuing legal action against them.
The council initially said that they extended the limit by offering the possibility of five, one-year extensions to it.
But at a meeting of the council’s executive on September 22, councillors will vote to increase this to a 15-year age limit with ten, one-year extensions.
This could mean that a caravan could stay on the Kingfisher Caravan Park for 25 years, which a spokesman for the council told Lincolnshire News & Lifestyle that this would allow 50 caravans to stay on the park.
Stuart Allen who is the leader of the fight is not impressed with the new offer. He has said they are still taking East Lindsey District Council to court as it offers no certainty for caravan owners.
In a statement ahead of the council meeting, Mr Allen said: “I can say that the group is still one hundred percent behind taking the council to court over this.
“We offer the council an olive branch to discuss a more beneficial position, other than the one being offered in the proposal, that would benefit the council by stemming the continued losses and the owners by consulting with them to achieve something that they are happy to progress with.
“If the council are willing to work with the owners’ group, we can stem further losses due to court action.
“We have completed our initial witness statements and our particulars of claim which could be submitted within days, but we would like to reach agreement in preference.”
The council claim the new rule is to help modernise the Kingfisher Caravan Park for the long-term. T