The Lake District National Park Local Plan Review
Closes: 29^th June 2018

We have responded to the Lake District National Park's Local Plan Consultation. 

You can find our comments here.

What is a Local Plan?

A Local Plan is a set of policies used to inform decisions by the Planning Authority, in this case the Lake District National Park Authority, on planning applications and appeals, and this authority should review its Local Plan at regular intervals to assess whether some or all of it may need updating.  Local Plans are generally reviewed every five years and the general public can to make comments on the plans. 

(National Parks are a national asset. You do not have to live in the Lake District to comment on the National Park Local Plan Review)

Click on the image to go to the Lake District Local Plan Review website.

Alternatively download the main consultation document here as a .pdf

---

Friends of the Lake District has major concerns with some of the policies and allocated sites in the Local Plan Review.  We outline our concerns below, and provide both links to pdfs providing more detailed information and references to the text in the Local Plan Review documents. 

If you would like to make comments to the Lake District National Park, you can either:

• fill in the survey site that has been set up by the LDNPA (www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Shapethelakes3);
• submit comments by email to [email protected]; or
• write to Local Plan Review, Lake District National Park, Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, LA9 7RL

If you share our concerns, you may draw upon our comments on the Local Plan Review below or download a summary here. 

---

Friends of the Lake District’s Concerns with the Lake District National Park Local Plan Review

• Friends of the Lake District considers that the Local Plan is far too focussed on tourism business and not enough on the other aspects of running a National Park. This Plan will encourage provision for an ever greater number of visitors to a National Park which is already struggling to support 19+ million visitors a year. The Local Plan should be more aware of conserving and enhancing the landscape; and of the needs of people who live in and work in other sectors in the Lake District.
  Read more>

• When the National Park became a World Heritage Site in 2017, UNESCO raised concerns regarding the impact of tourism on the integrity of the Lake District World Heritage Site. We do not consider that these concerns are taken into account in the Local Plan.
  Read more>

• Related to the increase in visitor numbers is the intractable issue of transport within the Lake District. The National Park’s roads are already at capacity during the busiest months; any increase in visitors will make congestion worse, impacting on the livelihoods of local people, businesses and visitor enjoyment.
  Read more>

• The Local Plan seems to presume that public enjoyment of the Lake District depends on additional activities which may conflict directly with the Sandford Principle.  The Sandford Principle prioritises the environment and landscape of the Lake District over damaging development and activities.
  Read more>

• We welcome the continuation of the Policy to ban the construction of open market housing within the Lake District. However, there are still significant problems for the long-term sustainability of communities. This is because a quarter of all Lake District homes are not permanently occupied and are second homes or holiday lets. The associated high property prices outstrip local wages, pricing out local people.
  Read more>

•  We are concerned that the Local Plan champions inappropriate, fanciful tourism development ideas in the Showcase Areas.
  Read more>

• The Lake District Local Plan’s Biodiversity policy is not aspirational nor in accordance with DEFRA’s 25 Year Environment Plan.
  Read more>

Site Allocations in the Local Plan Review

• We have serious issues with some of the sites which have been proposed in the Local Plan because of their size, location and greenfield status.  We are concerned about the impact of these sites on the character of settlements within the Lake District some of which are proposed to double in size.  We are also concerned about the impact on the landscape of some of the very large allocations.
  Read more>