I WAS present at the planning meeting when the question of the status of some homes on Clanna caravan park was debated.

The residents protested that although these homes were supposed to be for holiday lets only, they had been sold to them on a verbal understanding that this condition would eventually be lifted and they could occupy them permanently.

The condition was debated and permission to lift it was refused.

These residents, all of them elderly, therefore do not have security of tenure.

It was commented by an officer of the Forest of Dean District Council that eviction was very unlikely but that is not the point.

Laws are made for man, not man for laws and we see variations on existing laws made nationally every day, usually as a result of lobbying by pressure groups.

Why cannot an exception be made for the lifetimes of these elderly residents only so that they have security of tenure, but with their homes reverting to holiday lets on their deaths?

It should be made absolutely clear that this is an unusual situation and could not be used as a precedent elsewhere.

Steps also need to be taken to prevent similar homes being sold on an understanding that cannot be delivered.

This would seem to be a common-sense solution and would generate good publicity for the council as being responsive to the problems of the vulnerable elderly.

– Daphne Pearson (Dr), Redbrook.