THE Dean and Chapter at one of the region's cathedrals have been urged to reconsider the decision to introduce admission fees.

Spiralling costs forced the introduction of the fees at York Minister earlier this month, obliging visitors to pay admission, although worship will remain free.

At a diocesan synod meeting at the city's Askham Bryan College over the weekend, Frank Harris, of the Derwent Deanery, proposed a rethink.

A motion expressed regret that admission charges had been introduced, suggesting they could prove counterproductive.

Sixty-five members voted to support the call for a rethink. Two were against and ten abstained.

Yesterday, the Dean of York, the Very Reverend Dr Raymond Furnell, said he was disappointed he had not been warned the matter was to be raised at the synod.

He said: "Perhaps it would have been better if we had known this debate was taking place.

"I will admit to feeling a sense of discourtesy but we will respond when we have been notified formally of the synod's decision."

Despite the vote, he said he could see no realistic alternative to admission fees.

He said: "The thing is, no one has told us how to square the circle. The fact remains, of the 1.3 million people who visited the cathedral last year, 300,000 made a contribution and it simply wasn't enough.

"We have already engaged in a massive cost-cutting exercise, but you will always reach a point where they begin to be detrimental and it is at that point when you have to examine new streams of income."