A move to slash admission prices by York's National Railway Museum has been met with concern from the committee of one of its nearest city rivals.

At a meeting of the Yorkshire Museum's committee, fears were expressed about exactly what the implications would be of a planned reduction to just £1 admission next year at the National Railway Museum.

Councillor Alan Jones said he was "somewhat concerned" about the impact on the Yorkshire Museum, but hoped that people would still go to the museum whatever the price difference between it and its railway rival.

Paul Howard, curator of the Yorkshire Museum, admitted that he wished he could predict the impact.

"We do not know how this will affect us at this stage," he said.

But he sought to reassure committee members somewhat, saying he hoped the museum's big exhibition next year would attract a different market to that of the railway museum.

The major exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum next year is Upright Apes, the story of man's evolution, and is designed to attract children and young families with its interactive, 'hands-on' approach.

Committee members applauded the railway museum's move to reduce prices but said that the same could only happen at the Yorkshire Museum if Government funding were forthcoming.

Meanwhile, committee members expressed their pleasure at the success of the Yorkshire Museum's Walking With Dinosaurs exhibition which has been seen by some 80,000 people.

The museum's visitor target for the whole year has already been exceeded by more than 10,000.

During the meeting, members also heard how the flooding had affected the hospitium part of the Museum Gardens.

Mr Howard said that all bookings for the hospitium had been cancelled for the time being and was unable to say for how long that would be the case.

The ground floor of the hospitium was under approximately two feet of water during the worst stage of the floods.