A heavily used footpath prone to flooding running between Keswick and Portinscale is unlikely to be repaired by Cumberland Council unless third party funding is secured.
A meeting of Keswick Town Council was due to hear last Friday that the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) had received a number of complaints about the state of the Howrahs footpath but it was doubtful that it would commit any monies for its improvement.
After the matter was raised for a second time at the annual meeting of Keswick Town Council, clerk Vivien Little contacted the LDNPA’s northern area ranger who was under the impression that the path came under the remit of the town council.
But the clerk explained that it was Cumberland Council’s responsibility to maintain the footpath and the local authority had responded by saying it would be very costly to repair and it would only make improvements if third party funding could be sourced.
The northern ranger had since said that the LDNPA could not input funding to the project given it already maintains the PROW (public right of way) via an agency agreement with Cumberland Council, which does not include the Howrahs path.
The clerk, in her report to councillors, says that it is unlikely that Cumberland Council would do any work without third party funding.
“A member of the public concerned about the path has put in a Freedom of Information request regarding the improvement programme and if this is responded to it will hopefully be then put in the public domain,” says the clerk’s report.
