Skipton put forward as start for Tour de Yorkshire 2021

A bid has been put in for Skipton to host the start of the Tour de Yorkshire next year in hopes it will help the town recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Craven District Council has agreed to town being put forward as a host start for 2022 Tour de Yorkshire.

Councillors were unsure about investing the money after the struggles of the last 18 months, but in favour voted for being put forward as they believed the long-term impacts on tourism could be beneficial.

The decision was taken by Craven District Council Chief Executive, Paul Shevlin following a lengthy debate with members under urgency powers delegated specifically to the Chief Executive.

They also agreed to underwrite the event to a maximum sum of £100K whilst Welcome to Yorkshire seeks corporate sponsorship. This is in order to give organising body ASO the assurance they need to guarantee the event can go ahead. The event will utilise funding that had already been agreed for the 2020 race that had to be cancelled due to Covid. No additional funding was sought.

The event and underwriting costs are to be delivered from budgets already allocated; the remaining budget (£173,575) originally approved in 2019, monies (£125k) set aside from the allocated North and West Yorkshire Business Rates Pool for TdY from 2019/20, and funding originally committed by YDNPA as long as the race route take in large parts of the Yorkshire Dales.

Chief Executive Paul Shevlin said: “Before making the decision I had a consultation meeting with the Councillors who would have sat on Policy Committee due to be held this week. It was a long meeting (2.5 hours) and provoked a lengthy and thought-provoking debate including a candid presentation from James Mason at Welcome to Yorkshire. I think everyone agreed it was good to be able to have the time to focus on this one issue as opposed to being one item of a lengthy policy agenda. During the course of the meeting Members gave me a very clear steer as to what their decision would have been had the report been taken to Policy Ctte. A large majority supported the event.”

Leader of Craven District Council Cllr Richard Foster, said: “This was a difficult decision to take. We know that the Tour de Yorkshire has divided opinion across the district, but the majority of Members were clear that the race needed to be supported because of the long-term benefits it brings.

"This isn’t just about supporting the race on the day; it is about making an economic investment in our area. The coverage showcases our beautiful countryside and towns. Tourism is incredibly important to Craven and although the domestic market is strong this year we need to be looking ahead when we will be competing again with overseas locations and trying to attract international travellers.

"We know the event brings in new visitors and even attracts people to come and make their home here. The Yorkshire festival planned to run in the build up to the race will be a great marketing opportunity especially for the newly refurbished Skipton Town Hall. Whenever the race passes through there is always great sense of community and the race will be part of our post Covid recovery in bringing communities back together again.”

Welcome to Yorkshire are planning a county wide ‘Festival of Yorkshire’ to take place in the weeks before the race. The TdY will be the ‘headline act’ in a celebration of the whole county highlighting local food and drink, arts, culture, heritage, and music. It will be the first and largest non-ticketed mass participation event of its kind in the UK since the pandemic in 2020