A letter of support is to be sent by Keswick Town Council to Allerdale Borough Council underlining the importance of public toilets being provided on the Keswick to Threlkeld Railway Trail during the winter months.
A report to the February meeting of the town council said that the current arrangement for toilets at the leisure centre end of the trail comes to an end on March 31.
The Lake District National Park Authority had provided the facilities through the summer for the last two years but its funding has now ended. From October through to March, two temporary loos and one accessible toilet have been paid for jointly by the town council and Allerdale Borough Council. The town council had been able to pay its share thanks to donations from Threlkeld Coffee Shop and the Horse and Farrier in Keswick.
The meeting heard that Allerdale Borough Council’s assistant contract services manager Ernie Davidson has been a tremendous help in obtaining the money to fund the toilets while a long term solution to the swimming pool/ station platform area can be found. He suggested that a letter of support for the toilets be sent by the town council to the borough council and this was agreed by councillors.
Cllr Peter Walter said there was a “huge demand” for those toilets and if funding could not be found there was going to be a “massive problem”.
“It was suggested that we might want to approach some of the businesses in town if they wanted to sponsor them,” said Cllr David Burn.
“We are going to get some flak if those toilets disappear. We don’t have the money to fund them. It would not be a bad idea to approach Lake District Hotels to see if they would like to sponsor them for us.”
