YORK could have a new £50,000-a-year city centre supremo by the summer.

The new city centre "chief executive" could be in post as early as June and is part of a plan by City of York Council and York Business Pride to help revive the city centre and give its economy a much-needed boost.

More than a quarter of a million pounds in funding has been secured from Yorkshire Forward, the council, York Business Pride and local businesses including the Coppergate Centre and Marks & Spencer.

This money will cover the salary costs of the chief executive's salary initially on a three-year basis as well as some assistants with money left to try and increase the number of events that are held in the city centre.

The move is partly the result of discussions held last year with local businesses who were concerned about losing trade to over cities and the areas around York.

The chief executive's remit will be to bring more exciting events in to the centre and they will work along side the existing city centre management team, headed by city centre manager Paul Barrett, based in offices above the public toilets in Parliament Street or in new offices on Silver Street.

He or she will be appointed by a new City Centre Partnership board, made up of three council board members - the leader of the council, the executive member for commercial services and the leader of the opposition Labour group have been proposed - and three private sector businesses nominated by York Business Pride and one representative from Yorkshire Forward.

Council Leader Steve Galloway said: "The ideal candidate would be somebody with imagination and drive - somebody with good inter-personal skills and with knowledge of both the private and business sectors.

"They would also ideally have some experience of organising events and activities in a city centre and a good head for promotion would also be very high on the list."

He said a report would be placed before the council's executive next month regarding the development of a formal city centre partnership and the appointment of a new officer to promote the area.

"It is hoped that such an appointment will generate new ideas about how the city can be promoted and how the variety of events that happen in the central area can be enhanced to everyone's benefit," he said.

The report will be discussed at a meeting of the council's executive next Tuesday.

Updated: 08:40 Tuesday, March 29, 2005