A controversial new local plan for the Lake District looks set to be delayed by three months.

A public consultation on the high level document was carried out this summer by the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA).

They were bowled over by the “record” response with more than 2,700 people making in excess of 4,700 comments.

The emerging policy document aims to plot where future development could go across the national park until the year 2034.

Local plans often prove highly contentious in protected landscapes because they involve policies for future housing sites, employment space, tourism, parking and retail, among others.

The plan has raised concerns in some quarters that it puts “commercialisation” ahead of “conservation”.

The LDNPA had aimed to submit the document to the Planning Inspectorate in April 2019 for feedback from a planning inspector.

But the huge response has led Murley Moss managers to ask for more time to draw up the document.

They say they now face the “significant task of reviewing what everyone has told us”.

The request is set to be go before a meeting of the park’s strategy and vision committee at a meeting in Kendal on Wednesday (17th OCTOBER 2018).

Another factor in the timetable slip is the “coincidental” publication of a new National Park Planning Policy framework (NPPPF), which the local plan would also have to consider, officials say.

The park said of its consultation: “We have been successful in our objective of engaging with a representative sample of our Lake District community.

“Not only did the rate of response exceed expectations but we had a surge in young people getting involved, with 23 percent of respondents being under 34-years-old.

“We are now under way with the significant task of reviewing what everyone has told us.

“Only once this has been completed will we decide which draft policies and draft site allocations require attention and what amendments are necessary.”