Councils spend £6m on highway works ahead of Tour de France
WITH just a few days to go until the Tour de France Grand Départ comes to Yorkshire, a new survey has found councils across the region have spent close to £6m on road and highway improvements to get the route ready in time.
Freedom of information requests by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) show councils have budgeted to spend a combined £5,950,000 on road and highway improvements for the Tour de France Grand Départ route, including resurfacing, road strengthening, signage and repairs – much of which has been brought forwards from future financial years.
Councils told RICS that around three quarters of the planned expenditure, or £4.5m, has been brought forward from future years, while several other councils had prioritised work on the route over other areas as part of their regular highway maintenance and improvement programmes.
The largest investment has been made by North Yorkshire County Council, which covers Harrogate, where Stage 1 terminates on Saturday. North Yorkshire County Council spent £4.2m on improvement work, including £3.8m of work that was budgeted to be undertaken between 2015 and 2018.
In West Yorkshire, Kirklees Council, Bradford Metropolitan District Council and Leeds City Council, where the race commences, have budgeted a combined total of up to £950,000 to route improvements, of which a minimum of £150,000 has been brought forward.
Elsewhere in Yorkshire, Calderdale Council has undertaken £600,000 of work entirely brought forward from future years, while the City of York Council made a £200,000 contribution to road maintenance from its Capital Contingency Fund.
In Sheffield, where Stage 2 of the race is due to end on Sunday, the City Council has prioritised work on the route as part of its scheduled road maintenance programme.
Rob Hindle, chairman of RICS Yorkshire & Humber regional board, said: “The Tour de France Grand Départ is the biggest sporting event to come to Yorkshire, and the entire region is gearing up to welcome the riders.
“While we welcome the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire and all the economic benefits it will bring, we certainly hope that by bringing forward so much work on Yorkshire’s roads to before the race, the region won’t be left without adequate maintenance for years to come.
“As the largest – and one of the most rural – regions in the UK, good roads are vital for Yorkshire’s prosperity. We don’t want a feast today if it means a famine tomorrow.”
