Keswick Town Council will be meeting a week earlier than originally planned, and will discuss whether to formally encourage the wearing of face masks in Keswick's town centre and shops.

The town council will debate, among other things, a proposal which will be put forward by the mayor of Keswick, Councillor Paul Titley, to encourage the wearing of protective face masks in the centre of Keswick.

The debate has been triggered by an original proposal to the town council by local resident Cole Kelly from the "About Face" group, a Cumbrian group encouraging the wearing of face coverings in public.

The original proposal from Cole requested that Keswick Town Council adopt "either a policy or active encouragement campaign to wear facial coverings - not surgical grade masks - in shops and the outdoor shopping district of Keswick."

"Keswick led the country in shutting down non-essential shops first: I think we should be the first to adopt active encouragement/policy of wearing face coverings."

The proposal submitted to the town council points out that when shops reopen in Keswick, it will be "difficult to maintain distance with the narrow pavements" in the areas of Bank Street and Station Street in the town's shopping district.

Cole's proposal was submitted to the council at its last meeting, on May 21, where there was "general support" displayed by council members towards the suggestion.

The meeting will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday, digitally via the online video conferencing app Zoom.