The announcement yesterday by the Chapter of York Minster that the Minster school will be closing may be just the first of a series of COVID related setbacks for the City.
At least in the case of this school the authorities have moved quickly to ensure that that the Cathedrals outstanding choir, and their music, is sustained though a partnership with nearby St Peters school.
The school itself was in a unique position occupying listed buildings owned by the Minster. It looked to the Chapter for financial support when needed.
It attracted several bequests which helped it survive but, following well publicised set backs a couple of years ago, it did require a significant subsidy (circa £750,000 pa) from the Minsters general funds.
The latter’s budget had been healthy recently against a background of stable visitor numbers. The condition of the fabric of the building was also improving following a series of appeals and major fund raising events.
The Minster anticipated nearly £4 million in visitor admission fees in its budget for this year. Clearly that source of income isn’t going to restart anytime soon.
The lockdown means that the Minster authorities are now forecasting a shortfall in income of £5.2 million on a £9.4 million budget. The Chapter had to act quickly to find economies.
The Minster, like other major visitor attractions in the city, must now find ways of reducing its expenditure to balance its books.
The Cathedral has over £5 million in staffing costs each year. That accounts for half of its income.
Like many places of worship, it also depends heavily on volunteers to sustain its work. Many of those are older people, some of whom are classified as vulnerable in the COVID environment, and may therefore be unable to take on additional tasks.
The Minster does have some reserves that it can use to see out the year. But it does look like there will be a period of retrenchment at what is perhaps York’s most iconic institution.
The Chapter had recently agreed a masterplan for the precinct which set out a vision for the future. That vision may need to be reviewed now, not least because the buildings which incorporated the Minster school may become available for other activities.
There may yet prove to be opportunities arising out of the threat.
But in the meantime many will regret the closure of what is a unique part of the City’s heritage.
Eyes will turn now to other visitor attractions in the City all of which face similar, or even greater, challenges.
NB. A “Make it York” event heard this week that as many as 17,500 jobs could be lost in York as a result of the coronavirus pandemic – with more than half of those roles cut in tourism and retail. That could see unemployment rise to 18% although it was stressed that this was a “worst case” scenario!
