Small Lakes Byelaws Consultation

The Lake District National Park Authority intends to amend the Lake District (Smaller Lakes) Byelaws 1971). The amended byelaws will continue to cover all non-navigable lakes within the Lake District National Park. They will amend the definition of vessel and power-driven vessel, and the circumstances in which vessels may access the lakes.

The Lake District National Park has four navigable lakes, (Windermere, Coniston, Derwentwater and Ullswater), the byelaws on these lakes will be unaffected by the proposed changes.

The proposed changes to the Small Lakes Byelaws are shown here:  Small Lakes Byelaws 2025 DRAFT . These changes are shown as tracked changes so you can see how they have been amended.

We welcome your views on these proposed amendments to the Small Lake Byelaws by completing the survey form here:
Small Lake Byelaws Review Survey

This survey will remain open until 31 May 2025.

Background

In 1971 the Lake District Special Planning Board made The Lake District (Smaller Lakes) Byelaws 1971 (“the Byelaws”) under the provisions of section 13 of the Countryside Act 1968. The Byelaws came into force in 1974. The Byelaws have not been reviewed since they came into effect and are outdated.

Byelaws are considered measures of last resort after a local authority/National Park Authority has tried to address the local issue the byelaw applies to through other means. Byelaws should always be proportionate and reasonable.

The powers given to the Authority to make byelaws are contained in section 13 of the Countryside Act 1968. These powers permit us to make byelaws for the prohibition or restriction of traffic of any description on any lake in the National Park only. We cannot add anything relating to activity on lake shores. This type of activity would more properly fall within the provisions of the Access Land Byelaws 1980.

Our exercise of these powers does not remove the rights of landowners. Landowners will continue to have the right to determine what people can do on the bodies of water in their ownership. But those rights are limited in that they will not be able to permit activities that would put lake users in breach of the byelaws. For example, they could prevent swimming from land owned to them or permit it as they wished but could not permit people to use powered vessel on the water as this would be in breach of the byelaws.

A byelaw cannot be made where alternative legislative measures already exist that could be used to address the problem. Holiday accommodation on the lake is covered by planning legislation and we cannot regulate the position by means of byelaws.

If the Authority is to amend the existing byelaws, it must be satisfied that the safety of lake users is ensured, that the use of the lake by power-driven vessels would damage the amenity and natural beauty of the smaller lakes and their surrounding area and that it would cause nuisance (particularly noise related nuisance) or damage.

Proposals

The Byelaws have been overtaken by changes to technology and larger numbers of visitors to the Lake District National Park have increased the use of the smaller lakes for recreational purposes.

An amendment to the Byelaws is necessary to conserve the amenity and natural beauty of the smaller lakes and their surrounding areas and prevent nuisance or damage to the smaller lakes.

Whilst many of the uses, such as paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, and swimming are appropriate for the smaller lakes, we have also seen an increase in the use of vessels powered by electric motors.

Conflicts between users of the smaller lakes, mainly between drivers of electrically powered vessels and swimmers have been reported in recent years incidents, including incidents where injury to individuals has been narrowly avoided. As the popularity of “wild swimming” has increased the number of smaller lakes being used for this form of recreation has also increased.

The Lake District National Park has four navigable lakes, (Windermere, Coniston, Derwentwater and Ullswater), which are suitable for use by power-driven vessels (subject to appropriate limits on the speed such vessels may travel). The current lake byelaws on the navigable lakes are unaffected by these proposed changes to the Small Lakes Byelaws. It is intended that the smaller lakes are more appropriately used for activities such as paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, and swimming, and that power-driven vessels should not be used on the smaller lakes.

To this end, the following changes are proposed:

In relation to Byelaw 3

• The definition of a vessel has been amended to include watercraft that may be used beneath as well as on water.
• The definition has been amended to include remote controlled or autonomous vessels.
• The definition of “power driven vessel” is currently defined as a vessel propelled by an internal combustion engine. It is proposed to maintain the prohibition on power-driven vessels using the smaller lakes. However, the definition will be amended to prevent the use of vessels powered by internal combustion engines, electric engines, and any other such engines with moving parts that converts power into motion whilst permitting the use of paddle boards, kayaks, canoes, sailing vessels, and small pedal-operated vessels such as pedalos.

These amendments will be primarily to ensure public safety, reduce landscape impacts such as impacts to tranquillity/noise pollution, and environmental protection.

In relation to Byelaw 5, at (b) we propose to amend the exemptions clause to permit the Environment Agency to use electrically powered vessels to undertake their statutory functions of monitoring these bodies of water. At (c) we have clarified the existing wording for obtaining consent from us to use a power-driven vessel on the smaller lakes.  This will enable us to provide consent for our staff and contractors to use suitable small vessels when undertaking our statutory functions with regards to the smaller lakes.

There may be implications on the ability of those with limited mobility who may struggle to access the lake without some assistance. We have tried to mitigate this by amending the definition in such a way that it will accommodate some aids, including hand-pedalled canoes and larger vessels such as multi person canoes. The proposed amendments to Byelaw 5(c) will allow us to grant an exemption if this would be appropriate in all the circumstances to accommodate such users.

Byelaw 7 has been deleted as it simply states the law - landowners will continue to determine what people can do on the bodies of water in their ownership, provided they do not permit activities that would put lake users in breach of the byelaws – and the requirement for our consent currently included in Byelaw 7 is included in Byelaw 5(c).

A new Byelaw 7 has been added to update the penalties for breach of the proposed Byelaws in line with section 40(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 1982, which states that “the fine or maximum fine to which a person may be made liable by virtue of an enactment to which this section applies shall be increased to the amount at the appropriate level on the standard scale”. The appropriate level is level 2 on the standard scale.

Finally, we have added Ennerdale to the list of smaller lakes in the event that it is declassified as a reservoir.