Planning Approval Rate in Lake District National Park

Lake District National Park is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 91.3% of the applications it decides (rank 100th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 91.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within National Parks it is the 8th most approving of 10 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 69 of its 795 decisions were refusals (8.7%). On the split by scale it is far tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 60% of major developments approved versus 93.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 5 major decisions.

On timing it is a little slower than average, deciding 85% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 795 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its National Parks neighbours it sits between South Downs National Park (91.8%, more approving) and Dartmoor National Park (86.8%, stricter). For context in National Parks, Northumberland National Park approves the most (94.6%) and Peak District National Park the least (86.5%).