CITY of York Council is to spend £30,000 to try to ensure the future of the city's archives.

Members of the council's executive were asked to approve releasing the money to buy in project leadership from the National Railway Museum to run a feasibility study with a view to setting up a trust to look after the archives.

Eileen White, chairman of the Friends of York City Archives, spoke in favour of the proposal.

She said: "The proposed feasibility study is a positive way forward. We support the appointment of an acting archivist for this purpose, and if it is approved we look forward to helping the project in as many ways as possible."

The feasibility study will run for six months and will be followed by three months of consultation. It is hoped that in the future there will be improved housing for the collection, that there will be virtual access and that more people will be encouraged to use the facilities.

Councillors were offered two choices regarding funding. The council could either pay the full £30,000 or it could be partially offset by a reduction in the staffing of the archives. It was decided to fund the service fully from the council's reserves.

Coun Christian Vassie, executive member for leisure and culture, welcomed the funding.

He said: "The key to making progress is to employ someone who has considerable experience outside of the council but who is close to us.

"I draw attention to the fact that we in York have got 1,500 years of written history - a huge database about how a city has performed through time, and I'm very confident that this wealth of knowledge will be of huge interest to academic institutions around the world as well as being of huge interest to York residents.

"When we finally organise the transfer of this information I think there will be many people willing to pay for it to enable us to carry on providing the service for free to our residents."