Tourists urged to donate to upkeep of city's walls

Donation points will be installed on York's walls to encourage tourists to contribute to the city's maintenance costs.

York Council approved the six-month trial at a meeting earlier and hoped it would raise enough to help pay for improvements to the structure.

The plans include installing two "tap-to-donate" points at Bootham Bar which would ask visitors for single-figure donations.

Councillor Pete Kilbane, the authority's culture spokesman, said if 5% of the city's estimated 2.5 million visitors donated £5, it would raise about £625,000 and more than cover upkeep costs.

"The city walls are not only the glory of York, they're one of the glories of England. They were built by the Romans so they're older than England," he said.

"This is about us handing these walls down to the next generation so they can be enjoyed by people in another 2,000 years' time."

Kilbane said the council had to employ specialist stone masons to help maintain the walls - a cost faced by only a few authorities.

As well as the donation points, QR codes inviting people to donate online will be displayed, in addition to information about maintenance and conservation of the walls.

Depending on the outcome of the trial, donation points could be installed elsewhere along the walls, with the running costs estimated at £5,000.

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