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Holiday caravan parks are a mainstay of the Welsh economy - drawing in thousands of visitors and millions of pounds every year.

But there is evidence that some caravans aren't just being used for holidays - they're being used by a small number of people to live in, putting pressure on local services but not contributing through the council tax.

At the same time an increasing number of parks are looking to vary their licences to allow them to operate 12 months of the year, leading one North Wales AM to fear the development of "trailer park ghettoes".

Clwyd West AM Darren Millar is concerned that although most of the parks in his constituency do not have licences allowing year-round residency, the local council has uncovered evidence that that is happening.

He is also worried that there are an increasing number of caravan park operators looking to vary their local authority licences to allow them to offer the option of 12-month residential or holiday occupancy on their sites.

But Mr Millar's concerns about "trailer park ghettoes" are dismissed by those that run the region's caravan parks.

Mark Whitehouse owns a 325-pitch park in Towyn that mixes 10 and a half month holiday caravans with a small number of year-round residential mobile homes.

He accepts that there are would-be residents looking to bend the rules but insists that operators have nothing to gain from allowing that to happen.

Like other operators he would like to see more publicity about the rules so caravan owners know what they can and can't do. But Conwy council and others are calling for more.

They want the caravan licensing laws - which date from 1960 - to be changed and up-dated completely. The Westminster government is currently considering doing just that.