Editor Alex melvin discusses the latest petition to Government concerning mobile home laws

If the old saying ‘a problem shared is a problem halved' is correct, campaigning park resident Sonia McColl should be doing very well indeed.

Brave Sonia, backed by her park's residents' association, helped launch a petition challenging the Government to stop rogue site owners from blocking home sales. As our report from 10 Downing Street shows, Sonia's campaign garnered the support of more than 8,500 residents. Well done Sonia!
It's now up to the Government to do something meaningful about this important issue. The BBC, to its credit, covered our petition to Whitehall, featuring Sonia's campaign on its Radio 4 programme, ‘You and Yours'.

There's no way that unscrupulous site owners should be allowed to unilaterally block home sales or pressurise home owners to sell to them on the cheap. It's one of the most transparent types of abuse to blight our industry.

With the inconvenience of an older home taken care of, the site owner is then free to site and sell a brand new home for a substantial profit. What should be done now? The Government has talked about introducing a ‘fit and proper person' test for park owners (which would also be applied to existing site owners). I'm sure such a move would be welcomed by the majority of residents. However, with a general election looming, the present administration is fast running out of time if it plans to do something before parliament is dissolved.

The police and, in particular, local authorities, need to be more proactive. If a site owner is breaking the law or behaving in an intimidatory fashion, the police need to aggressively pursue offenders and present a compelling case to the CPS. By the same token, local councils should take control of parks where the site owner cannot be trusted.

Only if this is done will Sonia's problem, which took courage and tenacity to share, get anywhere near being halved.