Legal action is being launched over the sale of a public toilet block in Cumbria.

Allerdale council, which owns the toilets, invited bids for the facility at Braithwaite near Keswick.

However a community group which wanted to turn it into a local archive centre is now taking the authority to court after it instead favoured a bid to turn it into a cafe.

The Braithwaite Community Archive Community Interest Company is not happy about the way the decision was made.

It is now calling for the authority to stop the sale and agree to an independent public inquiry, otherwise it will take legal action to obtain an injunction and judicial review.

David Best, chairman of the community interest company, said: “We have had very serious concerns about the whole divestment process from beginning to end."

An Allerdale spokeswoman insisted that correct procedure had been followed, and said they have offered to meet with the community group to explain how the decision was made.

Related: Lake District public loos to become café