National park against national landscape designation

The practical difference is who decides your application. In a National Park, the National Park Authority is the local planning authority and determines everything from a porch to a quarry. In a National Landscape, your district or unitary council decides, and the designation operates through policy and through a statutory duty rather than through a separate authority.

The second difference is the number of statutory purposes. National Parks have two, which can pull against each other. National Landscapes have one.

The legal names, and why they matter

National Landscape is an operating name adopted in 2023 for areas designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The statutory designation is unchanged: the legal term in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, in the General Permitted Development Order and in most adopted local plans is still Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Use both terms in any submission. A planning statement that refers only to the National Landscape and then cites a policy about an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty reads as though the author has not checked which is which, and on appeal that impression costs you.

National Parks were designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. There are ten in England, plus the Broads, which has its own legislation and its own authority.

Who decides, and under what plan

The Sandford principle is the conflict rule in a National Park: where the two purposes cannot be reconciled, greater weight goes to conserving and enhancing natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage. National Park Authorities also have a duty to seek to foster the economic and social wellbeing of their communities, which is a duty rather than a purpose and is often misquoted as one.

Section 245 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 strengthened the duty on public bodies from having regard to the purposes of designation to seeking to further them. That applies to both designations and it applies to statutory consultees as well as to decision makers, which is beginning to show up in consultation responses.

Policy weight and the major development test

National policy gives great weight to conserving and enhancing landscape and scenic beauty in National Parks, the Broads and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and states that these areas have the highest status of protection in relation to those issues. The wording is the same for both designations, which surprises people who assume National Parks attract more protection in policy terms. They do not. They attract a different decision maker.

Major development in these areas faces an additional test. Permission should be refused other than in exceptional circumstances and where it can be demonstrated that the development is in the public interest, with the assessment covering the need for it, the cost and scope of meeting that need elsewhere or in some other way, and the effect on the environment, the landscape and recreational opportunities, including any moderating measures.

What counts as major development for this purpose is a judgement for the decision maker based on the nature, scale and setting of the proposal, not the 10 dwelling or 1,000 m2 definition used for procedural purposes. A single large building in a narrow valley can be major development for this test and minor for every other one.

Permitted development differences

Both designations sit within article 2(3) land in the General Permitted Development Order 2015, which also covers conservation areas and World Heritage Sites. The restrictions are the same for both.

• No extension beyond a side wall of the original dwelling under Part 1 Class A
• No cladding of the exterior with stone, artificial stone, timber, plastic or tiles
• Outbuildings under Class E not permitted to the side of the dwelling
• The larger home extension prior approval route is not available
• Upward extension rights under Class AA do not apply
• Chimneys, flues and soil vent pipes restricted on the principal and side elevations fronting a highway

Agricultural rights under Part 6 also differ, with tighter limits and prior approval requirements on land in a National Park. And a National Park Authority or a council can remove rights further by Article 4 direction, which several have done for specific villages or building types.

One point that catches people out. The restrictions attach to the land, not to the authority, so a house inside a National Landscape has exactly the same cut-back rights as one inside a National Park.

Design and materials expectations

Both designations produce design guidance, and in practice the National Park documents tend to be more prescriptive because the authority applies them to every application in its area.

Expect attention to roof form and pitch, eaves and verge detail, window proportion and reveal depth, rooflight type and whether it sits flush, stone type and coursing, render colour, boundary treatment, and the visibility of services including meter boxes, flues and heat pump units. Rooflights and flues are a disproportionate share of refusals on conversions.

Materials arguments are easier to win with evidence. Photograph comparable buildings in the same settlement, name the quarry or the supplier where the stone is local, and include a sample panel condition in your own suggested conditions rather than waiting to be told.

Evidence each designation calls for

The evidence base is similar, and the scale is set by the proposal rather than by the designation.

For anything beyond a modest domestic scheme, a landscape assessment following the third edition of the Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment is the standard expectation. Our comparison of landscape and townscape assessments explains which applies where, and a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment needs viewpoints agreed with the authority before the photography is done rather than after.

Dark skies are worth separate thought. Several protected landscapes hold international dark sky status, and lighting that would pass without comment elsewhere will not pass there. A Lighting Assessment in the darkest environmental zone has very little headroom.

Add landscape character evidence drawn from the authority's own published character assessment, tranquillity where it is part of the designation's special qualities, and a clear statement of how the proposal responds to each. Generic landscape text attracts a generic objection.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with the relevant planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it, and note that only a lawful development certificate confirms formally whether works are permitted development.

Browse all 66 PlanScope report types to see which landscape and supporting documents your site is likely to need.

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