We are the local planning authority for the Lake District National Park. We have to balance the demands of sustaining a prosperous economy and vibrant communities with the needs of this spectacular landscape.
What can you expect?
We will assess and decide planning applications, taking into account views we receive, as normal. We are able to provide general planning advice through our duty planner service and discuss applications. We will continue to take enforcement action when it is in the public interest. We will undertake an initial review of all new investigations. The timing of further action will depend upon relative priorities and may take significantly longer than usual. We are sorry we are unable to provide formal pre-application advice at present.
How to find out more?
How does the duty planner work?
Each weekday between 0930 and 1200 we have a planner available to answer queries on a first come first served basis. Our offices are closed to the public. This service is for short telephone conversations (01539 724555) or brief email replies only and not in person. Generally telephone conversations will be more effective. We cannot provide detailed pre-application advice. If, due to being short staffed, we are not be able to provide this service on a day, please call us back.
Can I contact planning team members directly?
General enquiries should be made to the duty planner. Only contact other team members in respect of current casework, by telephone or email. We cannot provide detailed pre-application advice.
What about telephone and emails?
If you telephone or email us you will receive an automated message. We will review all messages and aim to reply, although this may take longer than usual.
Why have we altered our services?
Our small team has been working remotely throughout the pandemic to provide statutory planning services. Since Spring 2020 the capacity of the team has been very significantly reduced for various reasons and we remain under staffed.
Why can't I have detail pre-application advice?
We do not have the capacity to offer this discretionary service at present. It involves time consuming work to do it properly, we know how important it is and will re-introduce it when we can provide a quality and timely service.
When will normal service resume?
We are able to deal with most new applications in a timely manner. However, we do run a backlog of new applications that we seek to allocate on a weekly basis.
We are reviewing the situation each week and we will re-introduce written pre-application advice as soon as we are able to provide a quality and timely service.
Thank you for being understanding, we appreciate that you may be disappointed, this is not the planning service that we want to provide and we look forward to being able to provide a full service once again.
We are currently reviewing our Local Plan and will be sharing updates online - find out more about our Local Plan Review.
