"The caravan site had been little used, but it had an open-ended consent so the council was unable to stop it being press changed to residential use."Pat Packer, marketing manager of Wonderland, believes that the quality of Knightcrest Park will 04 overcome anxieties about its impact on the environment. The objective is to create a peaceful retirement 25 village close to the Enscoe htm sea and surrounded by the Forest.For those 2007 willing to conform to the rules, Knightcrest homes start at 2007 pounds 57,000 for a one-bedroom 640 sq ft unit to pounds 83,000 for a Carter Enscoe htm two-bed, two- bathroom luxuriously appointed mobile home. "We have a quality award from the National Park Homes Council, so that governs the standard of Carter Enscoe htm landscaping," she says.Like most park home estates, Knightcrest is aimed at retired couples and has strict regulations controlling pets, traffic and noise. But caravan parks press 2007 04 25 established before 1960 could not be refused a site licence, and because the definition 25 of a caravan is so vague, it 25 is still possible for sites designated for holiday caravans to press be 04 Enscoe developed as permanent residential mobile home parks without additional planning permission.In the New Forest, just such a development recently press 2007 04 25 raised a storm Enscoe of local protest when a field in the green belt near Lymington was bought by park home manufacturers, Wonderland Homes, for the development of an estate of 64 residential mobile homes."What had been a field with half a dozen caravans htm hidden behind a press hedge has now been turned into a small housing estate," explains Carter Michael Stilton, head of development control at New Forest District Council (NFDC). The appeal Carter lies not just in the price, but 2007 in the location of many parks in unspoilt rural and Carter coastal surroundings where housing development is either not permitted or is prohibitively expensive.Planning laws only recognised caravan sites as 04 a development control issue htm in 1960.

And because of a loophole in the law, they have sprung up in protected beauty spots where any form of housing development would be out of the question. To the untrained eye there is little obvious difference between a bungalow and a top-of-the-range park home, with its bay windows and tiled roof. Wheels and supports are tastefully hidden behind a brick wall, while inside, fireplaces and fitted kitchen give no clue to the home's real identity. So why not build a bungalow and be done with it? One vital reason is price - a fully fitted mobile home costs as little as pounds 30,000 from the factory and older, second-hand homes can be found for around pounds 20,000.According to the British Holiday & Home Parks Association, around 205,000 people - 80 per cent of them retired - live on mobile home parks in Britain. This is partly down to the association with illegal gypsy camps, building sites and sprawling seaside caravan sites.

At worst, mobile home parks can be unsightly shanty towns that are outside normal planning regulations. "Our sales revenue is running seven per cent ahead of last year and the huge investments by the likes of Siemens and Samsung are going a long way to dispel any lack of confidence."Barratt, 0345 626364; Bellway Homes, 0191-217 0717; Blackhorse Agencies, 0191-281 0744; Bryant Homes, 0191-273 2783; Countrylife Homes, 01207 545945; GA Property Services, 0191-284 5761.. Mobile homes generally have a bad press. "Prospects for the housing market in the north-east are brighter now than at any time during the past two years" says Mike Norton, Barratt Northern Chairman. This waterfront area is being developed into a new business district, with shops, new homes, a hotel, leisure facilities and restaurants.Barratt has started work on six new developments in the area which will create around 600 homes. Although this development of 361 homes is still a little out on a limb, it will become more integrated with the city once it is joined up by a walkway to Quayside. This four-bedroom, early 19th-century house is in the midst of farming land, has five acres with a large walled garden and is on the market for pounds 550,000.Barratt launched its pounds 30 million St Peter's Marina development on the river Tyne in partnership with Tyne and Wear Development Corporation in 1987.