A trust may be launched by City of York Council to take over two of York's top museums and the City Art Gallery.

Officers will recommend later this month that the Castle Museum, Yorkshire Museum and art gallery should be run by an independent charitable trust.

They hope the new organisation could halt a downward trend at the Castle Museum, which has seen visitor numbers slide from more then 800,000 in the late 1970s to just 320,000 in the past year.

The decline means the museum - once a profitable "cash cow" which raised more than half a million pounds in revenue each year - now has to be subsidised to the tune of around £100,000 of taxpayers' money per annum, despite efficiency savings.

Head of the museums service, Sandra Bicknell, says a trust could be eligible for grants from literally hundreds of other charitable organisations, and could also borrow money commercially in a way denied to a local authority.

It could also plan ahead for the future far more effectively.

She said the local authority would still own both the buildings and collections under the proposals. "There is no prospect of the trust selling off the family silver."

The council would also have representatives on the trust board, and staff would transfer across - with hopes that extra employees could be taken on.

The trust would be a non-profit making charity, with revenue channelled back into further improvements.

"This is not a privatisation, but a public-private parternship," said acting head of the York Leisure office, Charlie Croft.

He said the council would still need to put resources into the museums and gallery, but the cost to the taxpayer would be considerably less than if it remained in control. The trust would be likely to bid for Lottery funding to help pay for building refurbishments costing an estimated £8 million, including major roof repairs at the Castle Museum, caf facilities at the Yorkshire Museum and the art gallery, and improvements to the infrastructure such as the electrics.

Mr Croft revealed that £2 million, set aside for a previous unsuccessful Lottery bid, was available to put towards a fresh bid.

"We are trying to establish a firm and exciting future for the museums and art gallery of York."

The proposals will be put to a meeting of the council's executive early next month and then go to full council for approval.

If councillors agree to the change, the trust could be up and running by April next year.

Updated: 11:17 Tuesday, April 10, 2001