Residents of a holiday park near Looe say they are frightened of catching the coronavirus or of being left homeless after being obliged to leave at the end of the month.

Around 150 people own and currently live in large static caravans at Oaklands Park, between Looe and Polperro. Their license agreement means the park can operate for 11 months a year: the park closes each year in February.

Around 30 of the residents class themselves as vulnerable- they’re currently shielding, over 80, or have serious health conditions.

Residents say that the park owner, Rachel Nation, has told them that planned electrical work will be carried out on the site and that they must leave by January 31.

They’ve pleaded with her to allow them to stay, offering to vacate their homes at a different time of the year, and Cornwall Council has said that on humanitarian and public health grounds it will not enforce the licence or planning permission, given the fact that the country is in Covid-19 lockdown.

Housing Minister Kelly Tolhurst has issued guidance to holiday park owners that hey should work with local authorities to avoid homelessness, and that parks can remain open to prevent families and vulnerable individuals from being displaced.

But in a statement to the Cornish Times, Acorn Parks Ltd, under which Oaklands Park operates, said: “We confirm that the park will be closed in accordance with our planning permission and site licence, from February 1 until March 1 2021 (subject to any changes to the law and Government guidance).

“Holiday home owners have a licence agreement with this company which stipulates that holiday caravans must only be used for holiday or recreational purposes, not as a main or only place of residence. It also states that the park is closed each year during February. This has been the situation since we purchased the park in 2002 and is a contractual legal requirement of the licence agreement.”

In a normal year, people would vacate the park, some staying with family, others travelling to other parts of the country to their alternative accommodation, and some renting other caravans, cottages or apartments locally.

But for many, these normal options are not currently possible. The Cornish Times has learned of one elderly stroke victim who is partially blind and has carers coming four times a day. Another elderly man is ‘making cardboard cut outs and painting them black so he can sleep in his car for the month’.

None of the people who spoke to the Cornish Times wished to give their names, as they feared the potential repercussions of speaking out.

One person said: “It’s an absolutely horrendous situation. There are people here who are shielding, people who have cancer. I can’t put into words how upset I am, it’s causing massive amounts of stress and anxiety. I can’t go back to my main residence, as I have a relative shielding. People are facing being homeless.”

Another resident said: “We are in a cocoon here, to our knowledge no one on this site has had COVID. It will stay that way if we all carry on doing what we have been doing.

“We know in normal times we leave in February, but these aren’t normal times. If people have to go to other parts of the country which are very high risk, we worry if we’ll be able to come back in March.”

The Cornish Times heard another holiday owner say they “would never have bought a home on the park” had they known what things would turn out to be like.

Cornwall Councillor for Looe Edwina Hannaford has been attempting to negotiate with the site owner to find a solution and she, and fellow Councillor Armand Toms, are also working with Cornwall Council to help those at Oaklands Park.

Residents said that MP Sheryll Murray was also assisting them with the situation. Whilst Mrs Murray said she could not comment on individual cases, a spokesman for her office did confirm that a situation had been raised regarding a caravan park in the constituency, and that work was underway to try to resolve the issue.

Cllr Hannaford said: “I have been raising the plight of about 30 residents at Oaklands Park for the last couple of weeks. These residents stay on-site for 11 months of the year, which they are allowed to do and in a normal year would return to their alternative address or take a holiday.

“However under the pandemic circumstances I fear that moving out, potentially going to areas of the country that have even higher rates of infection and then returning on March 1 is just not safe, fair or right for them or the community of Looe and area.

“Some are registered with the doctor in Looe and are worried about missing their COVID vaccination.

“But I just couldn’t get through to the site owner.”

Cllr Toms said that he had approached other local accommodation providers, some of whom “had said an outright no” but one who was prepared to look at temporarily rehousing people affected.

“A better option for me would be that the 28 day closure were later in the year,” he said.

“I hope that a bit of humanity kicks in and we can find a solution.”

Speaking to the Cornish Times, Rachel Nation did not comment on what would happen at the end of January should the situation not be resolved. She said that she “would not get drawn into discussion on people’s personal situations”.

In her statement to the press, she said: “We have recently been advised that the COVID pandemic has potentially created some issues for some private holiday home owners. We are investigating these issues and will take the appropriate action once we have considered all the relevant circumstances.”