Concerns have been raised that a historic walking and cycling route could be lost forever.

The walkway between Northscale and Barrow across Walney Channel was put in in the 1860s and has been described by one councillor as ‘in disrepair’.

Currently, only able-bodied people still use the route, but Councillor Les Hall, who represents Newbarns for the Conservatives, said it is a dangerous way to travel for bikers or the disabled – and he wants to ensure something can be done about it so that those people are able to continue to use the walkway.

He said: “If the council is proposing more healthy lifestyles then I think a feasibility study into bringing this cycle route back to usable condition, would be good at low tide, meaning people could go from Sandscal halls, along with the coastal link to the north end of Walney, could happen if it wasn’t so dilapidated.”

At the Barrow executive committee last week, councillors moved to prioritise the council’s cash reserves on a smooth transition to the new East Cumbria local authority.

Cllr Hall acknowledged that that meant funding for work could be tight.

However, can see other ways the funding for the cycle route could be raised.

He said: “Yes, we have to pay for the new unitary authority, but there is no point in handing our reserves over to a new council if we can help on projects like this now.

“This would be a tangible asset to the town and help promote the town.

“It would not need a lot of money spent and we could approach the wind farm people to see if they could help out with money.

“We have to make the new unitary authority the best fit for Barrow, but there should be a small amount of cash reserves going to this cycle route and it should not cost more than a few thousand pounds for a feasibility study.

"There is lottery money that could be applied for.”

Last week the council announced that its reserves will have to be used to make the merger of Barrow Council into a new Unitary authority with two other authorities as smooth and seamless as possible.

Money will be spent from reserves to merge with South Lakeland District Council and Eden District Council while the county council will also come to an end.