A temporary solution to the lack of toilets at the start of the Keswick to Threlkeld Railway Trail (K2T) was to be mulled over by members of Keswick Town Council last Thursday night (April 18).
It follows last month’s meeting where Paul Titley asked that the town council provides funding for toilets to be sited at the Keswick end of the trail as desperate walkers and runners were resorting to using bushes to relieve themselves.
The former mayor urged ex-colleagues on the council to urgently do something to improve the situation which he said was set to get worse during the summer months.
A report from Cllr Louise Dunn to last night’s meeting said that the volume of traffic on the trail has “significantly increased” since it was re-opened by the Lake District National Park Authority due to the marketing of the route. It is also the venue for the weekly parkrun which draws in several hundreds of participants every Saturday morning with a record field of 552 recorded three weeks ago.
The route is also advertised as being family and disabled-friendly despite the lack of toilets.
The report said: “There is no information at the start of the trail to inform people where the nearest facilities are and to warn that there are no facilities along the route.”
During the £7.9m upgrade by the LDNPA, the importance of including the toilets was highlighted but not included.
Since the re-opening in 2021, the LDNPA, Cumberland Council and town council contributed to the provision of portable toilets, but the funding was withdrawn. The town council was left to cover the cost over the summer of 2023 and a crowdfunding exercise proved unsuccessful.
The town council believes it is not appropriate for it to be the sole funder of facilities and has been lobbying other agencies to play their part without success.
Mr Titley urged the council to fund the provision of toilets on the trail but members did not agree to his request on the following grounds:
l Affordability – the town council does not have a budget to be the sole funder of the toilets on an ongoing basis;
l Complaints – the town council was receiving multiple complaints about the condition of the portable toilets;
l Vandalism – the toilets became the target for recurrent vandalism being tipped over frequently.
“It is clear a longer term solution is required, ideally a permanent toilet block, as part of a much-needed redevelopment in the area at the start of the trail behind the leisure centre,” read the report.
“However there is uncertainty over Cumberland Council’s plans for the leisure centre redevelopment – the pool is currently closed although the centre offers a gym facility.”
Councillors learnt that the town council had approached Cumberland Council and Better Leisure with a view to allowing use of the toilets in the leisure centre for parkrun. Initial discussions have been positive and a decision is awaited.
It has been suggested that the LDNPA incorporates some toilet infrastructure on the existing trail as part of the capital investment for its next phase. But the LDNPA has said that the finance for the next phase has been ring fenced just for the new section of the route.
Councillors were therefore being asked to support the provision of information signs at the start of the trail, noting that there are no toilets and informing people where the nearest facilities are before they set off.
