A crowd funding page has been established in a bid to keep the short-lived toilets at the start of the Keswick to Threlkeld Railway Path.
Keswick Town Council backs the initiative as it believes that the toilets are an “extremely important” facility for the countless people who use the path.
“It’s not perfect, and we understand that a number of people will not want to contribute, however we feel that the toilets are incredibly crucial to keep there, and anything that assists will be gratefully received,” said council clerk Vivien Little. The town council has also requested donations from all the vacation letting business in the town, pointing out that the path has been extremely handy to the town’s visitor economy, and requesting for any contribution they are willing to give.
“Again, we don’t expect to see much, however even a couple of hundred pounds suggests an extra week of them being there,” stated Ms Little. Following the extremely successful resuming of the Keswick to Threlkeld trail in December 2020, it has been heavily used, with more than 250,000 visitors to the trail in the first year. Residents and visitors have actually taken advantage of the accessible path through this historical part of the countryside.
However it has been challenging to find a long-term service to offering toilets at the start of the path and The Keswick Tip reported last month that donors were being sought as financing was drying up. With the swimming pool having been closed after Covid, and uncertainty over the future of the station platform, there is a requirement to have toilet arrangement in place. The Lake District National forest Authority helped offer temporary toilets for the last two summers, but can not completely fund this moving forward.
The town council, along with contributions of £500 each from the Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld and the Threlkeld Cafe, have been paying for the toilets collectively with Allerdale Borough Council. However it has actually just recently been verified that Allerdale District Council and the brand-new Cumberland Council will not be able to money the toilets as they had previously through Covid response funds. It costs £8,320 to employ and clean the toilets during the year and this figure does not consist of the extra cleans up required during bank holiday weekends.
The town council wants to keep the short-term toilets in place up until a long-term option can be discovered. “The Lake District is one of the most lovely parts of the nation, and we want everybody to leave it as they discovered it,” stated Ms Little.” For that reason, we are blazing a trail in helping to discover funds to keep the temporary toilets in place.”
The town council has actually put money in, as have other companies, however we have a deficiency of around £4,000 for 2023 which we need to get to ensure they are kept in place.” We are hoping that by fundraising in this manner, visitors will have the ability to contribute towards the expense of the toilets.” All the monies raised from this appeal will go towards supporting the expenses of the toilets. Any monies over this will be used to assist support future years until an irreversible option is found in conjunction with the land owner, the new Cumberland Council.”
To make a contribution, check out: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-fund-portaloos-at-the-start-of-the-k2t-trail
Jon is a regular contributor to several outdoor living and lifestyle news publications, concentrating on The Lake District. Now living in Glenridding, Jon studied journalism at Edinburgh University.
