A MAJOR drive to remove street clutter from York city centre will get under way this year.

The first street to be targeted will be Duncombe Place, where iconic views of the Minster are spoiled by no fewer than 14 signs, 17 poles and four electricity junction boxes, along with several telephone booths.

Sir Ron Cooke, of York Civic Trust, said: "From the Museum Street/St Leonard's Place junction, one of the finest views of the Minster is seen by three million visitors per annum, and yet it is being spoilt".

Now City of York Council is working with the trust and York Business Pride to examine ways of reducing the clutter.

Sir Ron, the former University of York vice-chancellor, said other areas of the city where views were badly affected by clutter included the pedestrian crossing below Clifford's Tower, where there was a proliferation of signs and poles.

He said that at Layerthorpe Bridge, there was an "afforestation of poles - 46 at the last count", and he believed a large electronic No Entry sign placed just outside Bettys caf in St Helen's Square might not even be needed or could be relocated.

He said that in some cases road signs had been made redundant and could be removed, or two signs could be put on one pole.

In areas of double yellow lines, signs were often placed on little poles when they could instead be fixed to buildings.

He said that as well as looking to remove unnecessary road signs, proposed new signs could be examined by the Conservation Area Advisory Panel.

He said the issue of street clutter had been raised by the civic trust in its annual report, but had also been highlighted nationally by English Heritage.

Bill Woolley, the city council's acting director of environment and development services, said: "There is too much street clutter. It has grown up over the years, with a proliferation of signs as new orders have come in."

He said there would be an audit of streets in the conservation area.

In Duncombe Place, he believed a number of signs could be moved or removed. "I will be talking with our engineers to see what can be done and what cannot be done."

Updated: 10:31 Tuesday, January 04, 2005