YORK Museums Trust could face a further financial knock-on effect if councillors continue to cut its funding, The Press can reveal.

Arts Council England, which last year provisionally granted the trust £3.6 million over the three years to 2018 following a glowing assessment of its strengths, indicated that future funding might be subject to the trust not losing too much support from its local authority.

It said: “Conditions will vary from applicant to applicant and may include, for example, evidence that local authority support will be maintained.”

Trust chief executive Janet Barnes - already at the centre of controversy over the introduction of admission charges to York Art Gallery for York residents - confirmed yesterday that the future of its Arts Council Major Partner Museum (MPM) funding was a concern.

She said that beyond 2017/18, the trust would need to show it had sufficient income from other funding streams to cover everyday costs in order to apply for such funding. "If this doesn’t come from City of York Council, we have to create this revenue in other ways," she said.

"The MPM money is restricted funding, which means we can only spend it on specific projects and activities.

"To qualify for this, York Museums Trust has to have sufficient income from other funding streams to cover the everyday costs of looking after the historic buildings and 1.5 million objects in our care.

"Much of this money has previously come through City of York Council but this income is set to be reduced from £1.5 million in 2012/13 to £300,000 next year – an 80 per cent cut."

She said the Arts Council had praised the Trust for successfully diversifying the way it was funded, and it had reduced its reliance on York council funding from 59 per cent of revenue turnover in 2003 to nine per cent in 2015, for example by increasing admission income and increasing the number of weddings and events.

"These latest cuts and predicted further cut has meant the Trust is continuing to re-evaluate the ways it can remain sustainable. This will inevitably lead to difficult decisions on where savings can be made as well as where extra income can be created and is likely to affect the levels of service we can offer.

"It is only by doing this that we will secure Arts Council funding in the future, which is vital for the museums to remain a major part of York’s cultural and economic landscape."