Angus Council has told residents of a holiday park in Montrose that it will close the site every February in a bid to stamp out people living there all year round.
The local authority took over the running of South Links Holiday Park in September after it terminated its lease with previous operator Wow Leisure Ltd.
The council has subsequently found that “a number” of people were living all year round at the park. This is a breach of Wow Leisure’s caravan site licence, which prohibited residential occupation.
Occupants were told of changes at a meeting with council officers.
Residents will have to enter into a new agreement with the council which will specifically state that residential occupation at the site will be prohibited.
People will have to show that they are paying council tax on another property to prove they are not using the caravans or lodges as their permanent homes.
Anyone who fails to sign the new agreement and continues to live permanently at South Links has been threatened with legal action.
This has angered many residents at the site, who claim they were allowed to live there year-round under the previous management.
A document, given to the residents by Angus Council representatives, states: “The new agreements with all the existing owners will require to state specifically that the agreement is for holiday use only.
“The agreements will be clear and transparent and where possible it is proposed that a standard agreement will be adopted.
“If the existing caravan owners decline to enter such agreements, and if they occupy the caravans as their only or main residence, the council will require to apply to the court to have them removed.
“All occupants will need to have a primary residence elsewhere.”
The new agreements will also allow the council to impose interim charges and residents have already been told to pay an additional £790 plus VAT to cover the council’s costs since they started running the site.
South Links previously only operated for 11 months of the year, until a meeting of the civic licensing committee last November approved full-year opening.
However, this was on the basis that residential occupation was prohibited.
A council spokesman said the move was to “comply with the relevant legislation to ensure the site does not become a residential site”.
He said: “This site was never licensed for anything other than holiday use.”
Anyone who decides to move their caravan from the site has been told that they will have to pay a charge of £210 plus VAT.