CAERWNON PARK RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

February 3^rd 2017

Dear Mr. Chairman,

Thank you for the copy of the Minister’s reply to you.

I feel it is only right to reply to some of the comments made.

Firstly the Minister mentions that I along with a group of fellow campaigners was involved in discussions with the researchers for the PACEC report, I was, but it was a question and answer meeting with the researchers asking the questions and we were all disappointed with the format.

 If any of us had known at the time that the survey was not going to involve the opportunity of a transparent review of the certified accounts of Park Owners by the report authors I do not believe the meeting would have taken place, I certainly would not have been there.  I believe that the money spent, all £45,594 was a total waste of taxpayer’s money and the Welsh Assembly Government should own up and apologise.  How can a survey into the economics of anything take place without financial figures being available for scrutiny?

This report was so important to thousands of retired and semi-retired people, generally at the lower end of the financial spectrum and it now looks as if a decision is going to be made on the hearsay word of the park owners who, by the way, were taken out of the private sales equasion by The Welsh Assembly Government because of unsavoury tactics by some of them, yet their word is deemed reliable enough on which to base a decision affecting the future of thousands of elderly residents.

The Minister may not have the “clout” to demand the financial accounts be made available but there are others who can, and I am aware that it was not this Minister who commissioned this survey but the previous one.

There have always been campaigners and I am proud to be included,  it is called progression and without it they may still be sending children up chimneys.  Many residents have been intimidated for far too long by certain park owners and without associations like ours would still be living without the latest legislation for some protection.  These residents rely on campaigners like us to move forward. 

If we thought that removing the 10% charge would jeopardise the livelihood of park owners we would not be pursuing this objective.  We know it would not.

We have asked our AM. Ms.Kirsty Williams to give our secretary and myself the opportunity to put our arguments to the Minister face to face, this would mean a round trip of approximately 140 miles for us, not a lot to ask I would have thought for maybe an hour of his time.

We are not alone on this issue, thousands of park home residents in England and Scotland are also attempting to remove this injustice. I will give you a typical example of our problem: Someone purchases a home for £100.000 and then within a few months for whatever reason health, bereavement has to sell, this would mean that the park owner takes £10.000 for doing absolutely nothing.  If that is not an injustice please tell me what is?  How many park owners or politicians for that matter would allow 10% of their assets taken from them? Not many methinks.

The Minister states that this survey is the most in depth survey to ever take place into the park home industry, as far as I am aware there has only been one other which took place in 2002, this supposedly “independent” survey was found not to be quite so independent when it was revealed that one of the authors of that survey was employed by a very large park owning company, vested interests maybe?

If you would like to meet with us at any time or require further information please e.mail Sue at s                  .

Yours sincerely

R.G.Mountford

Chairman.

Caerwnon Park Residents Association