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Peter Black a Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Gorllewin De CymruYn cynrychioli Aberafan, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr, Castell-nedd, Ogwr, Port Talbot ac Abertawe |
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Debate on leave to introduce Park Homes Bill - summing up
2012 Chwefror 1 3:30 PM
Gan Peter Black
Gan Peter Black
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Peter Black: I thank all those Members who have spoken today. The evidence of cross-party support will be heartening to the park home residents in the public gallery listening to this debate and to the residents who were not able to get here today, who have suffered over the years from the injustices and the lack of protection that the park home regime subjects them to. The passion of many Members here, in speaking on this issue, is worth noting. It is evident that they have had to deal with these problems for many years. I, Kirsty, Ann and everyone else feel strongly about the injustice being visited upon residents as a result of malpractice and abuse in the park home regime. There are a few points that I wish to mention. Julie James is absolutely right: if you get the enforcement and licensing regime right then you can solve many of these problems. We will look to do that, but whether that will be by creating the framework for the Minister to issue guidance or by putting it on the face of the Bill will need to be discussed. However, it is a priority to get that right. |
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3.30 p.m. |
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I support the concept that residents should be able to take control of their site, but that may well be an issue for the housing Bill as opposed to this one because it will fall outside the scope of this Bill. We do not deal with tenure in this Bill, but I would support including that if the Minister brought that forward as part of the housing Bill. |
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The point about the difference between holiday parks and park homes has been made, but I wanted to underline it. Regardless of what is happening on caravan parks, they operate under a different legislative framework and that is the crucial difference here. The legislative framework that we are bringing forward in this Bill relates to park homes and any issues around caravans and holiday homes would have to be dealt with by a separate Bill-I am sure that someone will come forward with that in due course. |
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Finally, on Rebecca Evans's contribution, it is key that the police are made aware of the issues on the site. I have a document from DCI Colquhoun of West Mercia Police, and we will look to meet with him over the next few months as part of our work in putting this Bill together. The police's approach to the low-level harassment on park home sites is crucial. We cannot do much about it in the Bill, but we certainly need to raise awareness with police forces about these issues and how they should be handled. That document is an important resource that police forces need to take on board. Evidence from the meeting earlier today indicated that most police forces in Wales still need to take note of that and still need to act appropriately when they receive such complaints. That is on my and other Members' radars, and as a result of this debate and of Members having their attention drawn to this document, they will no doubt raise this with their own police forces and ask them to look into this, particularly when such problems are brought to their attention by their own constituents. |
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Therefore, I thank Members for their support for this Bill. I also thank the park home residents who came from all over Wales to the meeting earlier and helped inform Assembly Members, including me, of some of the issues that they face daily on the sites where they live and the need to take this legislation forward to try to deal with those issues. As I said in my speech, we cannot put right every wrong through a Bill of this nature, but we can certainly redress the balance, restore a level playing field and give those residents the protection of the law, which they do not have at present. |
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