Basically, it is an offence under the Caravan Sites & Control of Development Act 1960 to dwell (even temporarily) in a caravan unless:
What this means in practice is that every rally we run, is run either under a set of rules governed by the terms our Certificate, or under a set of rules governed by the Planning Permission which is relevant to the land on which we rally.
The vast majority of our rallies are run under the terms of our Certificate - and that clearly authorises us to use caravans and motorhomes only. Erecting a tent (other than a toilet tent) would be a breach of the terms of our Certificate which could (in theory) result in the Certificate being withdrawn. Therefore the Club cannot permit the use of any tent on a rally authorised by the Certificate.
A few rallies every year are held on commercial sites (ie sites where planning permission already exists), however it cannot be assumed that our rally is run under the site's planning permission, just because there is planning permission in force at the site. Quite often, the site's permission will only extend to their main pitches, or to certain times of the year. Rallies, which are usually run on a separate rally field or out of season, are rarely covered by the site's permission. Thus if the rally is not covered by the site's planning permission, then it has to be covered by our Certificate and we are back where we were above.