It would appear from Saturday's Evening Press that City of York Council's Leisure Services Committee will be considering a proposal to charge non-York residents £2 for entry into the city art gallery.

As a York resident and a Friend of York City Art Gallery, I urge the committee very strongly to dismiss this proposal. As the leader article in the Press states, this would be an 'unprincipled and wrong' decision. The inevitable result of this action would be a falling off of visitor numbers and the estimated gain would not turn out to be a realistic figure, allowing for the cost of recovering this money.

The art gallery has a nationwide reputation - for example it was only one of a few galleries around the country which were given the highly-prestigious Canaletto exhibition. This is a shameful and mean-spirited proposal not worthy of a city with a world-wide reputation as a wonderful place to visit and enjoy.

Peggy Mellers,

Marlborough Grove, York.

...I protest most strongly about the council's proposed imposition of entry charges at York City Art Gallery on both cultural and practical grounds.

Such charges would completely alter the status of the Gallery, rendering it ineligible to receive such exhibitions as 'Venice Through Canaletto's Eyes', which was so popular last year. Pictures like these come from national collections which do not charge entry fees, and do not send to galleries which do.

In practical terms it is unlikely that the council would raise the £50,000 they hope for. The last time fees were imposed admissions dropped steeply, and did not revert to normal until after charges were removed.

Because the object of any gallery is for its works of art to be seen, I hope the council will not impose these admission fees and I ask all interested people to write to the chair of the leisure services committee in protest.

Anne Hall,

Chairman, Friends of York Art Gallery,

Petersway, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.