£76k bill to secure race
FEE PAID BY COUNCIL FOR LEG OF TOUR OF BRITAIN
REDCAR and Cleveland Council paid organisers a race fee of £76,000 to secure a leg of the Tour of Britain cycle race in September.
The money paid to Sweet Spot Group Limited was funded by the Tees Valley Combined Authority.
A council delegated decision report said there would also be delivery and supporting costs, as well as further council activity around the event, which it said was budgeted for.
The report said the cycle race was a “cornerstone” of the British sporting cycling calendar, attracting global cycling stars. The Tour of Britain will begin in Aberdeen on September 4 and reach Redcar three days later on the 7th.
The Redcar leg will take in the likes of Marske, Saltburn and Loftus, heading down the North Yorkshire coast to Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay, before turning back inland across the North Yorks Moors, also going through Great Ayton and Stokesley and eventually finishing in Duncombe Park, Helmsley.
Four further legs are scheduled before the race finishes on the Isle of Wight on September 11.
The report said hosting the Tour of Britain, alongside the Tour Series, which took place in Guisborough earlier this year, would cement the borough’s place as a leading place for large-scale sporting events.
It said: “Hosting the Tour of Britain allows local authorities to proudly showcase their sporting, historic, cultural, architectural, tourist and green credentials to a worldwide audience. Furthermore, it also provides a touchpoint with local communities, encouraging health and wellbeing alongside the promotion of active lifestyles.”
The report said the council and its partners were committed to increasing physical activity levels and reducing health inequalities in the borough, adding: “There is an appetite to develop more activity linked to cycling and we want to change people’s behaviours and encourage people to see cycling as a normal, everyday mode of travel and leisure activity.”
Last year’s race was broadcast in over 170 countries with live coverage in the UK on ITV4, which will again cover the event. The report said 15,000 spectators attended the starting leg in Penzance, Cornwall, in 2021, and overall the event attracted more than a million people to watch with a net economic impact to the UK economy of just under £30m.
Redcar and Cleveland missed out on hosting a section of the Tour de Yorkshire this year after the 2022 event was cancelled, following on previous postponements forced by the pandemic. Council chiefs expressed great disappointment, although it later emerged £200,000 had been saved from Redcar and Cleveland’s non-participation.
A festival-like atmosphere is being promised for the Tour of Britain, along with planned community activities intended to support the race and celebrate the borough.
A council spokesman said: “Excitement is building for the Tour of Britain – a major sporting event of national importance coming to our borough in September. The event is funded by Tees Valley Combined Authority and the council.
“This includes the race fee and other costs, including for traffic management, stewarding and supporting programmes of work, which are still being finalised. It is a coup for the borough to secure the Tour and it will help raise of the profile of the borough as a beautiful destination across the country.”
Redcar and Cleveland Council leader Mary Lanigan previously said it was “very privileged” to be welcoming the elite riders taking part and the race would benefit the local economy, bringing welcome custom for businesses.