York's historic city walls could literally start falling down if council chiefs fail in their bid for up to £4.5 million of national lottery cash.

The threat has sparked a storm of protest from worried city councillors angry that vital repair work should be left to the vagaries of chance and the whims of lottery bosses.

City of York Council is being forced to turn to lottery heritage chiefs for cash after English Heritage, which had been helping to fund the council's rolling programme of repairs, reduced its support.

But the council has been warned the chances of success are only 50/50.

Speaking at a meeting of city planners this week, Coun Chris Hogg said it was absurd funding for repairs of "the best city walls in Britain" should be dependent on lottery money.

Coun Steve Galloway added: "We should not be in the business of having to apply for lottery funds. We should have a clear and guaranteed system of funding."

The problems have arisen because restoration work carried out by the Victorians, in which rubble was poured between the outer, medieval wall and the inner Victorian walkway, is in danger of making the ancient wall bulge outwards.

The rubble is sinking lower and lower, pushing the wall out and increasing the strain on ancient masonry and mortar.

City archaeologist, John Oxley, warned that unless the council's 22-year rolling programme of repairs and restoration is continued, the cracks could start to show in ten years or so.

He told the Evening Press: "If the programme (of repairs) comes to an end, in the short term people won't notice a great deal.

"But after about ten years those parts of the walls which need work could soon fall into quite serious decay. When the mortar starts to erode away and wash out, stones will become loose and fall off as the frost gets between the cracks.

"We could then have to start closing different sections of wall because they get dangerous."

The council is putting in an initial £40,000 bid for lottery cash to pay for a feasibility study into how to repair and maintain the walls.Mr Oxley said the intention was to remove the Victorian rubble, fix the walls with internal metal bars that would hold them in place, then refill the cavities.

That would ensure the safety of the walls for another 150 years, he said.

The feasibility study would also look at ways of improving access to the walls for disabled people, and at new education packs to help local schools get the best out of the walls.

There could also be extra information panels and even statues and mini-tableaux on the walls if the scheme gets the go-ahead - though archaeologists stress nothing would be done without full consultation with York people first.

Until two years ago, English Heritage funded 40 per cent of the annual cost of repairing the walls. That has now been cut to just 20 per cent - and could be cut even further.

Mr Oxley said there was a real risk the 22-year repair programme, which still has up to 15 years to run, could be at risk if lottery funding was not found.

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