Decking in a mobile home park

S

salaried

Registered User
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Hi , We have just paid out 45, 000 euro for a mobile home , We are willing to pay 8000,00 euro for decking all as a sort of 60th present to us , Now after our third weekend here we have been informed that the local council has contacted the owner of the site to say timber decking is not allowed for safety reasons, All of the mobiles on site have the decking in place already , If it not safe for us how is it not safe for our neighbours , Has anyone came across this on another site , Thanks in advance for any help .
 
Back in the day we had a mobile home sited in a good privately owned facility. The site owner was adamant that no decking or fencing would be installed by the mobile home owners. Mowing grass and servicing the “vans” was simpler because of these rules. Anybody who attempted to cordon off his/her mobile home received a fast rebuke. Safety laws have become much more strict in recent years and I think the likes of deckings are a dangerous fire hazard (just my opinion).

You can try challenging the other owners about their decking, but you could soon become a persona non grata there.

For the record I was glad to eventually sell our mobile home - see my mobile home sagas on this forum from many years ago.
 
I can see the point - timber decking can get exceptionally slippery when wet and can look dreadful if not looked after.

Would they permit a paved section?
 
This is another example of unnecessary restrictions on Irish citizens.

I have been to hundreds of camping sites in France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia.

People have all sorts of decking, patios, fencing and lighting around mobile homes, caravans and even long term pitched tents.

It is fascinating to see the many activities of the owners of these installations.

Also in many parts of continental EU, people with allotments are allowed to build wooden cabins and engage in leisure activities e.g. barbeques in their plot. These are basically a garden space for their lucky owners.

The list of restrictions of freedoms for citizens of R.O.I. just keeps expanding.
 
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The council saying it is not allowed and getting enforcement orders in the courts are miles apart. If it is built leave it an see what happens. It will probably have rotted away if (by the time) the council takes real action. Most of the existing decking is probably there longer than 7 years anyway.
 
Much less a fire hazard than mobiles and caravans themselves though which will burn in a couple of minutes. Just busy body council officials making a job for themselves. They levy rates on caravan parks per site yet provide ovetnite places for motorhomes down the road in the same town.
 
JoeRoberts said:
Much less a fire hazard than mobiles and caravans themselves
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You missed the "perhaps" in my post. Read the rest of my post for other areas that are theirs to be concerned about. I'm not arguing for or against - that's just pointless - legislatively they have the power.
 
We had decking around our mobile home in Brittas Bay, Wicklow. We dealt with the owner of the land regarding this. It became extremely slippery when wet and we considered it a danger to ourselves and others.

Like Leper, we were glad to sell it. We felt that we purchased it at the wrong time in our lives....when our children were teenagers. We should have purchased it when they were much younger.

We found that there were cliques of people who were not that welcoming to us. When we passed on the pathways they always noticed something to look at in the opposite direction rather than say "hello".

We also felt that we had to visit most weekends to get value out of it. Holidays to other places were put on hold because we had the mobile home to visit.

Annual fees and insurance etc. were expensive and constantly rising.

Having said that, I would probably like to own it now, more so for our children and grand children to make use of it and for us just to call down every now and then just to potter about the place.
 
Best thing to do about this is to get on to your councillor. He'll be able to find out for you what is the reason for this regulation, and when it was introduced. Once you know why the regulation was introduced you'll be in a much better position to argue that it's unnecessary or excessive.

Getting a change may not be quick. It's likely that the council has enacted some by-laws, regulations or scheme of which is rule is a part; it'll be necessary to get the council to adopt some changes to the by-laws, etc, concerned. You'll need to make representations to your councillor, and ideally get other affected people to make representations to their councillors, so that the matter gets raised with council officials and some thought is given to whether a change is appropriate and, if so, what change should be made.
 
salaried said:
If it not safe for us how is it not safe for our neighbours
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Your neighbours either:
1) Installed their decking before the rule came in
2) Installed their decking after the rule came in but the council didn't know or care
3) Were chancing it

Either chat with the owner/council to find out what is allowed and work from there, or take some time to ruminate over alternative 60th presents to yourselves.
 
JoeRoberts said:
They levy rates on caravan parks per site yet provide ovetnite places for motorhomes down the road in the same town.
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Apologies for going off topic but..... mobile home vacationing and motorhoming are two (completely) different types of holidaying so what's wrong with a LA providing for and/or allowing for both in the same area. I'm pretty sure that any local service or retail business won't be complaining!
 
Very many sites provide for all varieties, fixed mobile and tourers. The motorhomers that i see pulled up in these council spots bring their stuff with them from home and arrive with an attitude that I paid for a fully equipped unit and will spend little or nothing in the area.
 
JoeRoberts said:
arrive with an attitude that I paid for a fully equipped unit and will spend little or nothing in the area
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Funny that. On an average weekend away in our campervan, we would typically spend between €200 and €400 locally. I have yet to meet a local business person who doesn't want our custom. I don't think we are the exception.

A very good example of how this impacts the local economy is Graiguenamanagh which is reaping real rewards of local campervan/motorhome tourism. The change in the village has been transformative.
 
Micks'r said:
Funny that. On an average weekend away in our campervan, we would typically spend between €200 and €400 locally. I have yet to meet a local business person who doesn't want our custom. I don't think we are the exception.
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Great to hear this. But think you are an exception though and hope you also support some of the camping parks.
 
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