Pendle councillors vote for Tour of Britain visit at expense of free town-centre Wi-Fi

Which would you rather have – the Tour of Britain riding through the place you live, or free Wi-Fi in your town centre? That’s the question that faced councillors in Pendle, Lancashire last week, who have narrowly voted in favour of the bike race visiting next September at a reported cost of £100,000.

According to the LancashireTelegraph, Liberal Democrat councillors believe that economic benefits highlighted by organisers SweetSpot of the race passing through Pendle and neighbouring Ribble Valley are “vague.”

They are also concerned about local reaction to the council spending money on the event at a time when a cash squeeze is forcing it to cut services and jobs, with some of the £100,000 set aside for it originally earmarked for free Wi-Fi in the centres of towns including Barnoldswick, Colne and Nelson.

An executive meeting of the council, which has no overall control with the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties sharing executive duties, resulted in a decision to spend the money on hosting parts of a stage of next year’s Tour of Britain.

Council leader Joe Cooney, a Conservative, insisted that while the route was yet to be decided, the investment would help raise the profile of the area.

He said: “The idea of this is to promote Pendle and Ribble Valley and put us on the map with people who love cycling. If we are going to stand out from the crowd then we need to use the topography we have.”

Liberal Democrat leader Tony Greaves said that the planned expenditure might attract opposition from residents, and was also concerned that as yet it is not known how much of the route will be in Pendle as opposed to Ribble Valley, itself spending £90,000 on the race.

“If we do this then we will make every effort to make it a success - but the people of Pendle will see £100,000 as three or four jobs for a year,” he said.

One of his Liberal Democrat colleagues, David voiced similar concerns, saying: “I just cannot see the people of Pendle welcoming us blowing £100,000 when the authority is nearly broke.”

However Conservative councillor James Starkie said that the area had received a boost in publicity after hosting the 2010 national road race championships, and in response to fears about potential disruption said: “This is like the Tour de France, it is there and then it is gone within an hour.”

The Lancashire Telegraph says council leaders plan to seek advice from UCI president Brian Cookson, who until March last year was the council’s executive director for regeneration, for advice over its staging of the race.

Earlier this month, SweetSpot said that the Devon Stage of this year’s Tour of Britain, which started and finished in the county, had brought £6 million to the county which hosted both the start and finish of a stage.