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10
Jun 2021
Local taxpayers may contribute to further Tour de Yorkshire funding
North Yorkshire County Council is in early discussions with Welcome to Yorkshire over funding next year's Tour de Yorkshire if the body fails to get sponsorship.
The event, which is usually held over the May Day bank holiday weekend, has not taken place for the last two years due to covid.
The request for funding in 2022 is understood to have been made to numerous local authorities, which are host towns for the race.
As Harrogate is not a host town, Harrogate Borough Council is not expected to contribute to the costs. But if North Yorkshire County Council agrees to do so then everyone in the county would pay through their council tax.
The race is being promoted as an opportunity to aid economic recovery across the region, and in particular in host towns and cities of Leyburn, Barnsley, Beverly, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Redcar and Skipton.
Read more:
- Council’s £500k Welcome to Yorkshire loan extended for ‘technical reasons’
- Welcome to Yorkshire posts losses of £200,000
- 2021 Tour de Yorkshire cancelled
Richard Flinton, chief executive at North Yorkshire County Council, said:
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Richmondshire District Council is among the district councils that may be asked to contribute to the event.
An officer’s report to a council meeting next Tuesday said in addition to the usual estimated costs of hosting a stage of the event, “there may be a requirement to underwrite a further amount by the end of June to allow Welcome to Yorkshire to commit to the race”.
The report states there would be a potential extra £100,000 cost to Richmondshire council alone, on top of the £160,000 it has already agreed to pay, if Welcome to Yorkshire is unable to secure sufficient sponsorship.
The report suggests some of the extra funds could be drawn from the council’s dwindling reserves.
Richmondshire council’s corporate board spokesman, Cllr Stuart Parsons, said the authority would debate whether offering extra funds on a weather-dependent event would be value for money.
He said:
'No better promotion'
However, Cllr Carl Les, Welcome to Yorkshire board member and county council leader, rejected the criticisms, saying it was a duty of councils to promote their areas to a wider audience.
He added:
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