Tour de France en route to Ayrshire?
On a recent coffee visit to the rather plush Member’s Room at Castle Grayskull, I happened upon a coterie of Conservatives deep in cosy conversation.
“Good morning gentlemen, how are we all today?” I asked.
“We don’t know . . . we haven’t read your column yet,” quipped Councillor Lee Lyons.
I appreciated his quick wit . . . and his oblique reference to the resonance of my weekly scribblings.
For some inexplicable reason, my ‘Post’ column has a reputation for rubbing our elected members the wrong way!
A few of them used to phone me up in advance and ask “Who’s getting it this week?”
So – in a magnanimousness of munificence – I’ve declared the next few weeks of council “recess” a demilitarised zone.
For the month of August – I’ve decided no-one is “getting it”
Well . . . unless they really, really deserve it! Still, the summer recess is not all deck chairs and kissme-quick hats for some elected members. Well, not this one anyway.
Constituents still have issues – and issues that won’t wait until the first week in September.
But it does give you some time to look at the bigger picture – and there was no better backdrop than our magnificent Firth of Clyde on Saturday when the Red Arrows came to Ayrshire . . . but sadly not to South Ayrshire.
The Scottish International Air Show has been badly missed and I’m delighted to support the new administration’s pledge to see its return next year.
But it begs the question “what other large scale events can we attract to South Ayrshire?”.
So please . . . don’t laugh . . . but one of them could be the Tour de France! Yes, I’m serious.
So serious that – post recess - I intend to seek the support of my fellow councillors in initiating a basic feasibility study.
Er . . isn’t the Tour de France...sort of . . . in France Mais qui – of course it is. But since the 1950s, France has shared the start of the world’s greatest cycle race – Le Grand Depart – with a host of European neighbours.
Dublin won the honour in 1998 and London staged Le Grand Depart in 2007.
Its last appearance on UK soil was in 2014 when Prince Harry flagged the 190 riders off from Leeds Town Hall in an opening stage that finished in Harrogate. A second stage was held between York and Sheffield with the final UK leg between Cambridge and London.
West Yorkshire Council estimated the event brought over one million visitors to the area – and the racing was watched ‘live by eye’ by over 2.5 million people.
Another huge spin-off were the scenic Yorkshire dales being beamed live to an estimated TV audience of 150 million in Europe alone.
But zoot alors – Le Tour de France ne venir pas cheap! The city of Leeds pumped in £2.4 million alone – West Yorkshire weighed in with around £7 million – and the final bill was over £10 million. Yes - I can almost see SAC’s finance chief – Tim Baulk having a balk at this one already!
So . . my grand plan for the Grand
Depart is to share it out. The French organisers like a big city start. This year it was Copenhagen, next year it’s Bilbao in Spain and Italy’s Florence is in the frame for 2024. It’s not as if the cyclists actually pedal in continuous stages. So it is possible to have the race start in Edinburgh or Glasgow – and move elsewhere.
And the elsewhere I’d like to see it are North, East and South Ayrshire!
The entire Ayrshire coast would be a magnificent setting for the remaining two stages – and Ayr’s esplanade would be a postcard finish! A pipe dream? Well, maybe.
But it was a pipe dream when the Mayor of Copenhagen come up with the idea for his city in 2016!
And just three weeks ago, the Grand Depart delivered Copenhagen’s best tourism figures ever with over one million extra visitors. So what’s the first port of call on this one?
I’m hoping someone at SAC will contact someone at West Yorkshire Council and ask if it was all worth it?
What uplift did it give places like Leeds, York, Harrogate and Sheffield – and to Yorkshire in general?
And did they get a tourism spinoff in the years following 2014? If the answers are positive – and next questions are, does Scotland want it... and can Scotland afford it?
They say the longest march starts with a single step – the Tour de France in Scotland before the end of the decade could start with a single phone call.
At this stage – all I’m suggesting is that somebody makes it!
Vive le imagination!