A YORK resident has slammed the state of a city centre river - but the council is set to carry out a major clean-up operation.

When David Simpson, of Kexby Avenue, looked out of his office window at Rowntree Wharf he was confronted with the sight of a dirty, litter-strewn River Foss.

Mr Simpson was worried that if the river was not cleaned up, it might discourage tourists from returning to the city.

He said: "The river has been in a very sad state for some time. The open top tour buses drive around Foss Islands Road and visitors are looking down on an extremely poorly kept river."

City of York Council is set to carry out a spring clean of the Foss on April 13 and 14.

John Wood, who is in charge of the clean up operation, said: "The Foss is cleaned twice a year and this includes river banks. It does look horrendous at the moment but we couldn't send people on to the river to clean it when it was flooded, we had to wait for the river to settle."

But Mr Simpson thought the river should be cleaned more than twice a year to keep it looking respectable.

He added: "As a resident of York I think I deserve more."

Gillian Cruddas, Chief Executive of York Tourism Bureau, agreed with Mr Simpson that dirty rivers could put tourists off.

She said: "The rivers in York are one of the city's main attractions. It is easy to take them for granted. Litter and toilets are the things that people complain about the most so it is a very important issue."

Updated: 09:11 Thursday, March 28, 2002