A COMBINED Morton Village Society and Keighley Town Council initiative should ensure a threatened public toilet block in East Morton will remain open.

Earlier this year Bradford Council warned that as part of major cost-cutting measures it would no longer be able to fund the facility.

Members of the village society had already been volunteering to open up the loos each morning on a rota basis.

The town council’s allotments and landscapes committee has now put forward a plan to allocate cash for the toilets’ continuing upkeep. The committee’s proposals need to be approved by a meeting of the full town council.

Committee chairman, councillor Brian Morris, said the East Morton toilets were a well-used asset which deserve to remain open.

“Hopefully we’ll be taking over the running of the toilets during the next financial year,” he said. “There is a bit of work needs doing on them, but nothing major.

“It’s another service we want to retain which will benefit people such as walkers, bus drivers and residents.

“We’re doing this in partnership with Morton Village Society who will be dealing with the opening and closing of the toilets, while we’ll be paying for and providing the equipment and funding any repairs that need doing.”

He added that his committee was prepared to allocate £3,000 for the toilets for the 2015/16 financial year, noting that Bradford Council had agreed to cover the costs of electricity and water for one more year.