Rising costs force winter closure of Allonby's public toilets

Allonby parish clerk, Susan Anderston, said that even though councillors have been volunteering to keep the toilets open, the parish council has been forced to close the toilet block, at least for the winter.

She said: "It was not an easy decision to make but the council receives no support for the facilities.

"One of the problems is the we receive £12,000 a year from Allerdale council based on the council tax our parishoners pay.

"More and more properties in the village are becoming holiday homes and Airbnbs.

"These premises don't pay council tax meaning the burden falls on the remaining residents."

She also pointed out that it was visitors who used the public toilets, not the local people.

As well as a diminishing number of council tax payers, the parish has had to cope with people abusing the toilet block.

"We are trying to keep the costs of the toilets to a minimum but when people abuse the facilities this puts up the costs," she went on.

"Half a dozen times last summer people put the wrong things into the toilets, including nappies and blue paper towels. This blocked the drains and it was costing us £200 a time to call out the professionals to unplug the drains."

She said the councillors themselves - who receive no allowance of any kind - have tried to fix the drains themselves.

It was the voluntary work of the councillors that enabled the toilets to remain open over the summer.

"We received complaints about the state of the toilets but this was partly due to wet children walking sand off the beach and trekking mud in there."

Once again, to keep down costs, a councillor volunteered to open the toilets every morning.

"This is quite a commitment, but meant we could pay someone to check the facility at lunchtime and then do a proper clean in the evening before closing."

The parish council will decide on future hours for the toilets early in the new year.