Static home owners back at holiday parks after anger at having to pack bags

People living in static homes at a Fleetwood holiday park have hit out after they were told to pack their bags and leave when the owners closed the park because of the coronavirus.
The gates of the Broadwater Holiday Park in FleetwoodThe gates of the Broadwater Holiday Park in Fleetwood
The gates of the Broadwater Holiday Park in Fleetwood

Although some of the holiday home owners have now been allowed back onto the Broadwater Holiday Park, on Fleetwood Road, they say they should never have been forced to leave in the first place.

Some of those told to leave the site on Tuesday were elderly people with health issues who were trying to self isolate in their static homes, where a number of them live for up to 10 months of the year.

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But site owners Partington Homes say they had simply followed urgent calls from the Government to close the site and had since allowed people back as soon as an updated guidelines had been introduced to accommodate those who would be made homeless.

Fleetwood MP Cat Smith was approached by static home owners living on the Broadwater Holiday Park in FleetwoodFleetwood MP Cat Smith was approached by static home owners living on the Broadwater Holiday Park in Fleetwood
Fleetwood MP Cat Smith was approached by static home owners living on the Broadwater Holiday Park in Fleetwood

A similar situation arose at the company’s other holiday parks at Windy Harbour in Singleton and Newton Hall in Staining, where

there was also tension

between the two parties.

Across the country people living in holiday parks are facing a similar situation, as holiday parks are told they should close but have some home owners on site who spend most of their time living there.

Although the home owners nominally have a “primary home” elsewhere, many of them are unable to live in them for variety of reasons, and in desperation sought the help of Fleetwood MP Cat Smith. One Broadwater owner, 47, who returned to the site with her partner yesterday, said; “I am still angry, all this horrendous turmoil was completely unnecessary. I had to go and stay with my elderly father in Cleveleys and it has been a nightmare, because there is no room.

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“We should not have been asked to leave, the guidelines about people being made homeless were already in place and we couldn’t go to our address in Bispham because my daughter and family live there and they are ill with the cold. My husband has recently had pneumonia and is vulnerable to Corvid-19”

Samantha Robinson, whose grandmother lives at Broadwater with her partner, said: “It’s an absolute disgrace the way they were treated. My grandmother was trying to self-isolate. She has COPD and can’t live at her primary address because the bathroom is upstairs and Partingtons knew that. They had to camp out in my lounge on Tuesday and were very distressed.”

But Jane Molyneux, marketing director at Partingtons, who confirmed the holiday parks were still officially closed, said; “These are not residential sites, they are holiday parks and on Monday we were told by the Government to close.

“It was heartbreaking for us and closing was the last thing we wanted but we had no choice.

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“We had advised the home owners several days before that this may happen but once the Government line came in on Monday we had to act and gave the home owners until 2pm to leave on Tuesday.

“All the home owners here are supposed to have a primary address elsewhere where they can go to - these are holiday homes.

“But when the new guidelines came in, we allowed those who had issues with a primary address to come back and we have a limited service on site, with electric and a reduced warden service.”

Fleetwood MP Cat Smith said the guidelines were already in place on Monday and the move was not necessary.

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She said: “This is excellent news. I’m pleased residents will now be able to return to their homes and there has been a positive outcome.”

There was also a stand off with people living in their holiday homes at Newton Hall caravan Park and the owners of the site. There were claims the owners threatened to cut off their gas and electric if they did not leave.

And a Blackpool holiday park also announced it would close following the Government’s guidance.

A worker at Piper Heights Caravan Park, on Peel Road, Marton, told The Gazette: “We must stress that Pipers Height is a holiday park not a residential park.

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“All customers are holiday home owners not residential and they provide us with proof of their residence on an

annual basis.

“Customers who have a valid reason [to] isolate in their holiday home, because they cannot return home ... are being asked to send a valid reason why and are being allowed to stay.”

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