Question

What can I do if I disagree - or agree - with the boundary line?

Answer

The line shown on the map attached to this web site is a proposed boundary line which FLD has drawn following the commissioning of its own professional research work which has now been submitted to Natural England, the Government body responsible for protected landscapes. When Natural England decides to progress this matter they will publish a consultation document for public comment. (see Executive Summary – page 7, Designation – The Process).  It is at that stage when you may wish to submit your view on the boundary line proposed by Natural England, which may be different to the one proposed by FLD. People may have a number of views on the boundary line as follows: 

There are 4 options:

1. ✓ Support the boundary line and extensions in their entirety
2. X Oppose the extension in its entirety
3. > Propose a Greater Area for statutory protection
4. < Propose a Reduced Area for designation

For each Option you should have regard to the text in FLD’s full report; in particular Part 1 (page 39), Section 1 (Introduction), Section 8 (Legislation), Section 9 (Especially Desirable to Designate), and Section 20 (Benefits of Designation), and Part 2 (page 317) Landscape Analysis. 

Option 1 – Support the whole extension ✓

You may need to do nothing, but it may be helpful if you wrote to Natural England in support of the proposals. 

Option 2 - Oppose the extension in its entirety X

You will need to explain to Natural England why you feel that the landscape proposed for inclusion into the Lake District National Park does not meet the statutory requirements set out in Section 5 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (see Section 8, para 8.1 of our report).  You will have to show that the landscape does not have the ‘natural beauty’ which is a requirement to secure designation, and comment on why you disagree with the professional landscape assessment carried out by Alison Farmer Associates (see Part 2, page 341 – 371).  If the landscape is judged by Natural England not to have such natural beauty the proposal would fail. It is not sufficient to say you don’t want the area to be in a National Park for a number of reasons. Your evidence can only relate to why you feel the area does not meet the test of ‘natural beauty’. 

Option 3 – a greater area to be designated >

The provisions of Section 5 of the 1949 Act require an area proposed as an extension to a National Park, when taken with the existing National Park area, “to be an extensive tract of country which by reason of its: 

• Natural beauty, and
• The opportunities afforded for open-air recreation,
• It is especially desirable that the necessary measures are taken to so designate.

Therefore, to propose an area greater than that proposed by Natural England, it would be necessary to set out clearly to Natural England why you feel that your ‘extended’ area would meet the statutory requirements for designation and be a continuous extensive tract of landscape which would clearly be seen as the Lake District National Park.  Not only would the area be required to satisfy the ‘natural beauty’ criterion but you would also have to display how the second criterion would be met, i.e. the opportunities for open-air recreation.  You could do this by reviewing the data sets used to come up with the boundary and referred to in the FLD full report, or by arguing along more esoteric lines such as sense of place and tranquillity as to why an area meets the natural beauty test. 

Option 4 – a reduced area of extension <

Again Natural England would want to see how you have approached this and why the landscape you wish to be excluded does not meet the statutory requirements of Section 5 of the 1949 Act.  You would need to draw a new boundary line and clearly outline why the area you propose to omit does not meet the natural beauty tests. Just arguing you do not agree or don’t want to be in a National Park is not sufficient, you have to show that the natural beauty is not of sufficient quality to warrant designation.

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