Councillors voted on Tuesday to set aside �75,000 to help other organisations take over the maintenance of public conveniences.

They spent several hours discussing ways of saving the amenities which were threatened with closure as part of a cost cutting measure.

Councillors had been told they could not review the whole policy without running into legal problems.

Convenience policy

The money will be available to help organisations such as parish councils in places including Kirby Lonsdale and Windermere take over the running of toilets.

The council's leader Colin Hodgson told BBC Radio Cumbria it was not a u-turn in policy.

He said: "The policy hasn't changed. The policy is that we would rationalise our provision of public conveniences.

"We need to make sure that we close the toilets that we don't need and are not being generally used.

"We also need to preserve the toilets that we feel are going to make an impact in the economy of the district."