A LAKE District holiday park has been refused planning permission to extend its premises, despite support from nearby residents and the town council.

Low Briery Holiday Park, Penrith Road, Keswick submitted an application for the extension to the existing holiday park, formation of access, landscaping and ancillary works, in September 2022.

Despite support from nearby residents and the Keswick Town Council, the Lake District National Park Authority decided to turn down the bid on May 5.

The application would have seen 22 new holiday lodges located on the site, which the applicants say would have 'expanded and future-proofed the tourist accommodation to offer' in the town.

A design and access statement supporting the application said: "The proposal will increase the offer of the very popular and overbooked holiday park which already receives frequent enquiries for holiday lets that they can not accommodate.

"The new lodges will offer high quality accommodation in a different setting to the existing riverside location."

Support for the proposals was given by nearby residents and the town council, who said that the application had been 'carefully considered' by the business.

In a statement of support, Keswick Town Council said: "This application represents a significant expansion of holiday accommodation closely related to the existing Low Briery Holiday village.

"Overall, this is a carefully considered project on a well screened site closely related to the existing holiday village which we support."

However, the national park authority said the new lodges had been refused due to its siting in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

It said although the national park authority understood the 'public benefit' of the proposal, this did not 'outweigh the identified harm'.

Refusing the application, documents from the LDNPA said: "The adverse landscape and visual effects identified would have a consequential impact on attributes of Outstanding Universal Value; the extraordinary beauty and harmony of the landscape, its contribution to the agro-pastoral character of the area and the loss of identified in-bye.

"The public benefits of the proposal including the provision of additional holiday accommodation and support for the local economy are not considered to outweigh the identified harm."