RESIDENTS at Bordon’s Redhouse Park criticised East Hampshire District Council after it stayed firm on what residents say are “unfair” licensing conditions.

An ongoing dispute reached fever pitch recently with five residents from the Hogmoor Road park taking site owner Michael Wenman Ltd to a tribunal.

The Redhouse and Sunshine Parks Residents Association claims that licensing conditions - which prohibit hedges and fences over a metre and restrict plots to a single car - are unfair.

Whitehill town councillor Roger Russell, who has lived at Redhouse since 1983, alleged these “ridiculous” conditions, added in 2010, are motivated by a desire “to clear the park”.

But at the June tribunal, the judge ruled in favour of upholding the licensing conditions, which means the site owner can legally enter residents’ plots “to remove any hedges and fences which are not of non-combustible material and more than one metre high”.

But Mr Russell said that to comply with this rule would mean turning the site “into a wasteland” and losing privacy. Many residents had been in open defiance of the condition for years, he said.

He said other district-council caravan parks, including Broadway and Firs Park in Petersfield and Whitehill Park, had high wooden fences and hedges.

On the issue of car parking, Mr Russell said such a condition would prohibit residents from having guests or carers park at their homes.

The judge agreed this condition was “unduly restrictive” as plots had adequate space. Mr Russell has a double garage.

In a letter to East Hampshire District Council, the Redhouse and Sunshine Parks Residents Association claimed that the licensing conditions will create “an open-plan look to the park, which would ultimately devalue residents’ properties”.

“All other parks licensed by the district council are allowed six-feet wooden fences and hedges - some of which are eight feet or more,” the letter added.

“Also, if it were for reasons of fire safety regarding wooden fences and hedges, the Government would have included such in the Model Standards 2008 which it has not.”

The letter said the homes would become unsaleable or devalued to such a point that residents “would be forced to sell them to the site owner for a pittance”.

“Over the past 16 years some 90-plus residents of this park have either sold their homes for a 10th of their market value or less, or abandoned them completely,” the group claimed.

Residents fear that if the land was cleared it would be used for building.

But if Michael Wenmam Ltd does not comply with the district council’s licensing conditions, it could face prosecution.

“This site’s licence conditions are completely clear about the fact that any fences forming the boundary around a pitch on the site must be made of non-combustible material (the district council has given the example of a chain-link fence in the conditions), and that hedges are not permitted under any circumstances,” the firm said in a statement to the tribunal.

A district council spokesman said the council had to ensure the safe management of mobile-home parks in the district and did this by applying conditions to the site licence.

“These conditions are guided by national standards laid down by the Government,” the spokesman added.

“In 2008 the Government changed some of its guidance relating to caravan parks and as a result East Hampshire District Council reviewed the conditions on Redhouse Caravan Park.

“Following an extensive consultation with residents, the site owner and other parties, the council amended the site-licence conditions in 2010. The site-licence conditions focus on the day-to-day running of the park.

“The changes made in 2010 included restrictions on the height of fences and also to prohibit hedges on site. These changes were implemented to reduce the risk of spread of fire from unit to unit.

“There has been no change to the site licence or its conditions since 2010. It remains the site owner’s responsibility to ensure residents comply with these conditions and the district council will continue to monitor the site to ensure compliance.”

The tribunal judge said: “Compliance with the current site-licence conditions will have a very significant affect on the feel and character of the site particularly with regard to the removal of hedges and fences.”

“It might totally alter the privacy and seclusion that some if not all of the applicants enjoy now and which they have enjoyed for many years.”

The judge wondered if, should the conditions be enforced, residents could be entitled to compensation.