OWNERSHIP of Cross Hills public toilets is to be transferred to the parish council.

Glusburn and Cross Hills Parish Council has leased the public conveniences in Hall Street Car Park from Craven District Council since 2010.

Now, district councillors have agreed to hand over the toilet block to the parish council for the nominal sum of £1.

At the district council's recent policy committee meeting, when the transfer was agreed, councillors were told there were no plans to take back liability of the toilets but that the council was looking for a solution to ensure the facilities would remain open.

A council spokesman said: “Transferring the public conveniences to Glusburn and Cross Hills Parish Council will ensure the continued use of the council’s assets by the community, whilst reducing the council’s liabilities. The toilet block was leased to the parish council in 2010, and the parish council currently keeps these toilets open but would like to reduce the cost of doing so. The parish council is considering redevelopment and so requested that the site be donated to them. A covenant will be imposed to ensure that the site is retained as a public convenience, whatever the redevelopment plans may be.”

The parish council has been in discussions with Craven Council about its plans to reduce the cost of maintaining the toilets. It has said it is willing to redevelop the facilities, but only if it owns the site.