Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the cost of maintaining (a) city walls and (b) city walls that people can walk around on the availability of local authority funding for other services.

The cultural significance of York City Walls is recognised nationally through the designation of many sections as Listed Buildings or Scheduled Monuments, yet their maintenance remains the responsibility of their owners.

The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. This is an above-inflation increase.

For York this represents an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £11.32 million or 7% – making available a total of up to £172.5 million in 2024-25.

The majority of the funding provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced and local authorities are able to spend the money as most appropriate for their local area, according to local priorities.