I'll preface this by saying that i love the lake district, but everyone and their nan can see the direction of travel. 'Protecting' something for the sake of it and denying change is not only ahistorical, it's a fool's errand. Also i guess my perspective is mostly focused on the west lakes. Windermere etc doesn't necessarily have the same issues, though it does have some.
The various policies seem to be more about some weird form of gatekeeping than anything else. They're also completely incoherent and often contradictory. If you read the planning policies they go to great length to say how much the LDNP need more homes, yet also how we need severe restrictions on the building of new homes. They lay out pages of reasons why the LDNP needs more and better holiday accommodation, then you reach a bullet point where it just says 'no new holiday accommodation will be approved'. They talk about how tourism is essential, yet we can't increase tourism because of infrastructure concerns.
The UNESCO designation means that sheep farming is prioritised to a ridiculous degree for no discernible good reason to the exclusion of most other things. Is that really ''protecting the natural landscape'? I genuinely struggle to see what it offers. Likewise, i'm a long term national trust member (IINM they own about 20% of the lake district) and as nice as it is to just say 'we will keep it the same forever and ever', it's just not practical. It's actually kind of wild the level of control granted to an unaccountable body over 'shared space'.
The lake district is full of lakes, yet most of those lakes aren't even really accessible, nor are they really available for use for traditional 'lake' activities. They're just kinda there to look at if you can manage to park somewhere and make your way through some bushes down to the lakeshore. Even windermere has a mostly inaccessible shorefront and lack of access in large parts. How hard would it be to provide some proper parking at wastwater?
As an example, i went to Ennerdale water the other day and..... there's just nothing there. It's such a colossally wasted resource. a tiny car park well away from the lake and a half arsed footpath. a few houses on one side of the lake (probably holiday homes). Are you really telling me that (instead of a tiny car park) having say a cafe, some pedalos/ boating, a nicer beach for swimming, a cycle path around the lake with bike hire etc..... are you really telling me that would somehow fundamentally destroy the natural beauty of the area?
Single track roads are lovely and quaint and all, but they're also a shitshow. I spent an hour trapped over the bank holiday because two people were too scared to pass each other and traffic backed up in both directions causing massive gridlock. Clearly it's not working, and there's no 'putting it back in the bottle'. Routes like Corney and cold fell have been used for decades as a rat run by Sellafield employees. Anyone who has been over hardknott recently can attest to why it should be avoided at all costs. Hell when sellafield was still accepting imported spent fuel there was the regular farce of an enormous lorry having to navigate tight, narrow roads up the west coast. Having basic infrastructure isn't a crime. Even with some functioning roads, the lakes aren't going to suddenly disappear. Being accessible might even gasp mean that the entire area stops being reliant entirely on a single employer.
Then again maybe it's just me
E: you can really see the difference between people who see the lake district as somewhere they need to live and those who just see it as a kind of amusement park for their enjoyment.
E2: Fun fact. In addition to being in many respects heavily influenced by human intervention (weirs are famously natural occurrances) there actually used to be a pub/hotel on the shore of ennerdale water. Demolished in 1960 as they intended to raise the water level again (because it's totally natural remember). "noooooo you can't have any buildings on the shore of lakes nooooooooo"
