A NEW South Wales council is sifting through offers from private landowners anxious to turn their properties into much needed caravan parks.

Byron Shire Council had appealed for expressions of interest from owners of at least one hectare of reasonably flat land in the shire which could be turned into caravan parks with a mix of tourist sites and manufactured homes.

Behind the scheme is Councillor Patrick Morrisey who believes that well located, designed and managed caravan parks could have the potential to provide affordable housing options for shire residents.

“The need for medium and long-term affordable housing is a challenging problem facing the shire," he said.

"Caravan parks and managed home estates have the potential to provide housing for low income earners and the elderly. There is an argument for mixing tourism with longer-term residential facilities."

He said the calling for expressions of interest was the first step in identifying suitable sites in the shire and determining the process required to move the project forward.

Byron Shire's land planning and natural environment manager Sharyn French said it would give private landowners the opportunity of having their land rezoned but they would have to consider whether a caravan operation could be viable or not.

Byron mayor Jan Barham said Councillor Morrisey's idea had been adopted to gauge the amount of interest.

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