Following the success of the Tour of Britain Stage 3 in 2016, which saw 120 top international cyclists race 111 miles from Congleton to Tatton Park, Cheshire East Council has decided to bid to host a future stage of Britain's biggest cycling event.
The Cabinet agreed a budget of £300,000 at their meeting on Wednesday, 26th July, to enable them to try and secure the hosting of a stage of the Tour of Britain 2018 in the Borough.
According to a report prepared for the Cabinet meeting, the 2016 Tour of Britain generated a number of benefits for Cheshire East including: £3.5m for the Cheshire East economy and attracted 300,000 spectators - with 63% of those from coming from outside of the Borough. Additionally the Cheshire East stage was watched by 1.23m viewers on ITV4, making it the 2nd highest viewed stage in 2016. According to the report the event had significant community benefits and showed 59% of respondents said they were inspired to cycle more often.
While a contract for hosting the event may not need to be in place until the end of 2017, Cheshire East Council is keen to progress early discussions with the organisers to enable them to maximise the marketing opportunities for the event and begin active discussions with potential sponsors by autumn 2017.
The tour cost Cheshire East Council £397,100 to stage in 2016, which included £175,000 for the venue agreement as well as costs associated with media and communications; staffing costs, infrastructure and traffic management. However with sponsorship totalling £129,721, the net cost to the Council was £267,379.
Based on their experience from 2016, the Council anticipates that a gross budget of £430,000 is needed, which would require a net investment by the Council of £300,000 - £70,000 of which would be required in 2017/18 and £230,000 in 2018/19.
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59% of respondents reportedly said they were inspired to go cycling more often but how many people responded?
CEC, eh? Hopeless.