Expanding our National Park

In the seventy years since the National Park and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949 was enacted by Parliament many communities have felt that the exclusion of the Cartmel Peninsula and Duddon Estuary from the original designations that created the Lake District National Park in 1951 was unfinished business.

Parish councillors acted on behalf of their communities and approached Friends of the Lake District to assess this landscape with the intention of applying to Natural England for designation. Friends of the Lake District then established and funded a research team to assess whether the current quality of the landscape would warrant national park status and statutory designation.

They now say that their research vindicates the views of the communities and parish councils in this area, who know that they live and work in a landscape of spectacular quality and that the evidence confirms that this landscape is of the quality affording, and deserving of, national park status.

In parallel with their research, parish councils have been establishing the level of support for an extension amongst residents, businesses and communities and have been holding a series of meetings locally over the last month.

The Southern Boundary Partnership has been formed to establish what being in a National Park would mean for residents and businesses and to help build enthusiasm for this change. This group, together with Friends of the Lake District has also been engaged in informal discussions with local politicians, local government and a number of non-statutory bodies.

You can find lots more about this proposal here on the Friends web site.

This is the start of a lengthy process that could take years. There will be a consultation process and we will be monitoring it and letting you know of any actions that you can take when the time comes.

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