Senior councillors have welcomed the progress being made ahead of the arrival of the Tour de France in Cumbria next year and the benefits it will bring to the region.
Members of the Cumbria Combined Authority board met at Eden Rural Enterprise Centre in Redhills near Penrith on Friday and were given a progress report on the preparations.
On May 29, the board agreed to hold in reserve £1,564,009 revenue for Westmorland & Furness Council, and £1,010,854 revenue for Cumberland Council, for the purpose of underwriting costs associated with the delivery of Tour de France in 2027.
It was agreed that an extra £100,000 revenue would be held in reserve across the programme to cover emerging unanticipated costs and it is hoped that the area would receive a return to the local economy many times the original investment.
After the meeting, Jonathan Brook, the leader of Westmorland & Furness Council, said there was a lot going on behind the scenes.
He added: “I recently attended the annual general meeting of Cumbria Tourism there was a presentation of the Tour de France and the potential benefits.
“There has been a really fantastic response from local businesses who really are beginning to see potential benefits of the tour coming through Cumbria. They are already receiving bookings for that particular period.
“There are very significant economic benefits in terms of people coming to visit and also about promoting Cumbria and the Lake District and having that seen on a world stage.”
Cllr Brook said the JOY programme, where residents can step forward to volunteer during the event, should also provide a more lasting legacy from the tour. He added: “Because the tour will come and go very quickly. But it’s important that in terms of getting people interested in physical activity and in volunteering, and a whole range of things.
“Also increasing participation, and particularly amongst those groups that perhaps at the moment don’t see themselves as being participants in sport, that they also can see something that will inspire them for the future.
“So, I think there’s a whole raft of potential benefits, and those will become more apparent as we continue to work up the details of exactly how we’re going to deliver the tour in Cumbria.”
Mark Fryer, the leader of Cumberland Council, said he felt the benefits were huge especially for the community.
He said he had seen the finish of the tour first hand a couple of times and added: “The scale of this event is something that people don’t quite understand.
“The levels of vehicles, motorcycles, police, volunteers, the fan parks, the Grand Départ, the finish is phenomenal, and it’s coming to Cumberland and Cumbria, the benefit of that is for places like Carlisle, Keswick will be really high.
“But also, culturally for the schools who are being involved with us and are starting to get on board in a lot of community groups.”
He said there had been a lot of interest in the JOY programme and he added: “There has been a really, really great take up for them.”
Cllr Fryer said he was pleased with the progress made so far and added: “Look, it’s small steps, incremental, but yeah, we’re making good progress and we’ll deliver on the day.”
During the meeting report author Thomas Andrew told members it was an opportunity to promote Cumbria
It was recommended that members noted progress made since May in relation to the development of the Tour de France 2027 outline business case and associated social value proposals, note the emerging opportunities to support the JOY programme led by Tour organisers, and agree that the outline business case would be brought back to a board meeting no later than October 26, which was agreed.
The finish for Stage 1 will take place in Carlisle on July 2 and the start of Stage 2 takes place in Keswick on July 3.
