Exemptions from having to obtain a camping or caravan site licence
Under Section 269 of the Public Health Act 1936 a licence is not required if a person allows any land occupied by them to be used for camping (tents only) purposes on no more than 42 consecutive days or no more than 60 days in any 12 consecutive months. The First Schedule of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 lists the cases under which a caravan site licence is not required.
As a brief summary, no licence is required if caravans are being used in connection with the owner's dwelling, for building or agricultural purposes, for stationing of a caravan for not more than two nights (as long as caravans had not been present for more than 28 days during the previous year), or for stationing up to three caravans on a plot of five acres or more. Travelling showman and sites owned by the local authority also do not require a licence. In addition, certain organisations, such as the Caravan Club or the Camping and Caravanning Club, benefit from exemptions from the site licensing requirements. For example, the two clubs can permit 'certified locations' (CLs) and 'certificated sites' (CSs), which operate without a site licence but subject to a club-members-only policy.