The cost of maintaining York's ancient city walls is running at more than £82,000 a year.

The walls, which are Grade I listed, are among the longest and best-preserved walls in England and are visited by more than one million people every year.

For the last 12 years only £82,300 has been spent on them each year. Of this, £15,300 is for general maintenance like removing graffiti and lifting and relaying flags, while £67,000 is used for restoration works.

This funding is due to increase in this financial year to £20,300 and £127,000 respectively.

Councillors have vowed that they will continue to be maintained by a council team to ensure they survive for future generations.

Councillors on City of York Council's executive yesterday agreed to continue funding an internal maintenance team through a partnership agreement between the council's city strategy and neighbourhood services departments rather than place work out to tender.

Coun Ann Reid, executive member for city strategy, said the council had to ensure the walls were maintained.

She said: "One of the problems is that the budget is not huge so it's difficult to maintain a full-time team, but if you go out to tender you run the risk of not getting the work done or getting it done bit by bit."

She said that by having an internal maintenance team the skills needed to repair and protect the walls would be kept in-house. Coun Andrew Waller, executive member for neighbourhood services agreed.

He said: "If you don't set up agreements like this you don't keep the expertise within an organisation."

He said the report into the partnership reminds councillors of the work the ancient monuments team does, adding that as well as the walls they work on castles and windmills and their skills are also used by other organisations like Harrogate Borough Council.

Coun Christian Vassie, executive member for leisure and culture, said: "If you look in the Yellow Pages you don't find medieval wall maintenance and that is reason enough to justify the partnership."