Agenda item No.7
Otley Town Council
Policy & Resources Committee
Date: 8 September 2014
Subject: Report on Tour de France
Report by: Community Development Officer
1. Purpose of Report
1.1 To inform members on the impact of the event and the contribution of the
Town Council.
2. Background
2.1 On Saturday 5th July, the Tour de France (TdF) passed through Otley as part
of Stage 1 of the Grand Depart. Otley was designated as a TdF Spectator Hub
for the event.
2.2. As part of the Spectator Hub status a range of entertainment was provided
in the town including: Music Busk Stops along the route and in the Town
Centre; the traditional Saturday Market on Kirkgate and a Food, Drink and
Craft Market in Manor Square, Bridge Street and Courthouse Street; a large TV
Screen in Market Place, with indoor screens in Churches and Otley Courthouse;
Fairground in Beech Hill Car Park and a Family Fun Zone in St Joseph’s School
fields and playground.
2.3 The route of the TdF entered Otley at Pool Road, along Cross Green,
Boroughgate, Market Place, Westgate and Ilkley Road before heading out of
Otley along the A660.
2.4 The event road closure came into place at 5am to allow the build of the
race infrastructure and market stalls, with one vehicular and emergency access
crossing point at Cross Gate and Wesley Street remaining open until
approximately 8am.
2.5 The Caravane commenced to pass through Otley at approximately
10.15am, with the race passing through the town at 12.15pm.
2.6 The crossing point at Cross Gate/Wesley Street was re-opened to vehicles
by approximately 1.30pm, with Boroughgate/Market Place and Westgate reopened by 3.30pm.
2.7 The remaining closed roads (Kirkgate, Mercury Row, Newmarket, Manor
Square, Bridge Street, Courthouse Street) were re-opened by 7.00pm.
3. Published data
3.1 The following provides some of the initial estimates of the wider impact of
the event:
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3.5 million spectators lined the route over 3 days;
2m people watched live on ITV on both the Saturday and Sunday;
1 million spectators at the spectator hubs, starts and Fan Parks;
100 kilometres of barriers and fencing erected and 70 kilometres of
event bunting;
 Busiest day in the history of Leeds Train Station with 243,000
passengers;
 26,000 rail passengers travelled through Harrogate on the Saturday.
3.2 Christian Prudhomme (TdF Race Director) described Yorkshire’s Grand
Depart as the “grandest” in the 111 year history of the race. He stated “When
you said you would deliver the grandest Grand Depart it was the truth, you
have raised the bar for all future hosts of the TdF”.
3.3 The Grand Depart moves on to Utrecht in the Netherlands in 2015.
Welcome to Yorkshire and the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) have
announced a new cycle race on next year’s diary, the ‘Tour of Yorkshire’ – a
three day race that will run from 1st – 3rd May 2015.
4. Feedback on Otley
4.1 How busy were the roads and car parks in Otley?
Most people had taken the published communications advice and
walked/cycled or used the bus/train. There was no major congestion or road
issues reported in and around Otley.
The official Otley Car Parks were relatively quiet – in total there were 674 cars
parked on the four sites – the busiest being the Auction Mart site.
This was consistent with the other Leeds spectator hubs at Scothall and Pool.
4. 2. How did the public transport cope?
There were no issues reported with the buses – the reduction in road traffic
caused by the event meant buses were on time. The major issue was at Leeds
Train Station – where it was extremely busy and on the verge of being locked
down. There were major back logs at the Train Station. The other issues were
in Harrogate due to the number of people – some of the security teams were
pulled out of Otley in the afternoon to go to Harrogate.
4.3. What was the profile of visitor build up in Otley?
The build-up of visitors was mainly seen after 9am and this was consistent with
the other spectator hubs (Pool, Scothall). In Leeds City Centre the build-up was
a little earlier from 7am – with significant numbers until 6pm.
4.4 What happened to the toilets?
Unfortunately, the centrally procured toilets did not arrive in Otley until
2.30pm – as this was too late and we could not access the allocated sites –
they were sent away. However, this was not unique to Otley – this was an issue
throughout the Leeds district and at every hub site. It was also an issue over
the two days at many other locations.
4.5. Other feedback
The estimates for the centre of the town (barriered area from Manchester
Square to the Westgate Car Park) was that 15,000 people were lining the
streets – this excludes down Pool Road, top of Westgate/Ilkley Road etc – so
conservatively the estimates in total are 25-30,000 – but note these numbers
are guestimates and subject to change.
There was one reported issue on Ilkley Road of a vehicle being parked on the
route – however, this was resolved by 6am without the need to tow away.
On the whole, residents had moved their vehicles from prohibited areas – in
the event of an emergency there was full access.
On the day, there were 7 minor First Aid issues and 2 ambulance call outs
between 9am and 6pm in the Otley area.
The big screen proved to be very popular – but note that the showing of
football matches is not recommended on Police advice, alongside the potential
for all-day drinking. These are potential issues for any future plans.
5. Resource Implications for Otley Town Council
5.1 Otley Town Council with Otley Town Partnership formed a steering-group
to oversee Otley’s response to the TdF. This Steering Group consisted of a
number of local groups and organisations and met on 10 occasions between
June 2013 and June 2014.
5.2 The steering group also established 5 sub-groups, with each charged with
identifying issues, costs, funding sources etc in relation to their ‘activity’ – the
groups were as follows: Events on the Day; 100 day Cultural festival and
Legacy; Businesses; Logistics and Infrastructure; and, Communications.
5.3 Finance - specific infrastructure costs were picked up by Leeds City Council
and the TdF Hub Company including: Temporary toilet facilities; Barriers;
Medical support; Security; TV Screen. Some of the 100 day Cultural festival
activities were supported by a Leeds Inspired grant – submitted jointly by the
Otley Courthouse and the Big-Hoo Ha Company. Otley Town Council and Otley
Town Partnership contributed towards cost for events on the day and
communications.
5.4 Budget - Otley Town Council set aside in the 2014-15 budget:
 £5,000 for events on the day and local communications of the TdF event.
This was supplemented by a contribution of £2,000 by Otley Town
Partnership. This supported: music/dance entertainment at the music
pods and busk stops; purchase of new generators/gazebos; hire of the
school field for the Family Fun Zone; static bike hire; design and
publication of information leaflets and maps; stall hire at Otley Carnival
and Otley Show; commissioning of Otley Camera Club for photographs
of the build-up and on the day; and, additional Yorkshire flags for the
route. The total cost is estimated at £5,000.
 £5,000 for Voice Your Choice TdF Legacy Projects – there were three
winning projects – the new Otley gateway dry stone wall (completed); a
film of the Day the Tour passed through Otley (expected to be
completed in September), and a Cycling signs project (to de delivered in
co-operation with Leeds City Council);
 £1,500 for TdF Merchandise – The TdF merchandise proved to be
extremely popular and was completely sold out on the day of the event.
The total amount spent on orders equated to £5,600. A further order of
t-shirts was made post event due to demand. Total merchandise sales to
date equates to £10,800 and is estimated to be £11,315 when the final
order is completed (please note this excludes VAT).
5.5 Otley Chamber of Trade paid for the signage on the gateways into the town
advertising the events on the day and Otley BID contributed towards the costs
of the Otley in Bloom Yellow Bikes around town and the Otley Pub Club change
of pub names project.
5.6 The Civic reception held at the Otley Conservative Club was paid for by
Otley Town Mayor Cllr Nigel Gill from his Mayoral allowance for 2014-2015.
5.7 In addition, there were significant staff costs associated with the delivery of
the TdF. The Community Development Officer acted as the liaison on behalf of
the Otley TdF Steering Group with Leeds City Council, the TdF Hub Company
and Welcome to Yorkshire throughout. The CDO attended and minuted all 10
Steering Group minutes and attended numerous meetings with the Leeds City
Council TdF team, TdF Hub Company and the various TdF sub-groups. The CDO
and the EO worked the entire day of the 5th July with the Events Safety Team
to ensure the safe running of the event. It is estimated that the CDO spent 450
hours (60 days) of time from June 2013 to June 2014 on the event, as well as
out of hours work including night time meetings and weekend work at the
Otley Show, Otley Carnival etc.
5.8 There were additional costs associated with the staff time associated with
the event. In the build up to the 5th July, the Otley Core was the focus of
numerous queries from both residents and visitors. It is estimated that there
was at least 1 hour a day of queries in the five months from January to May
2014, with this increasing to 2 hours a day during June and 3 hours a day in the
final week prior to the race. All office staff were involved in the sale of
merchandise in the build up to the day and all the Otley Town Council staff
(Executive Officer, Community Development Officer, 3 x Core Liaison staff,
Finance Officer and 6 x Toilet attendants) worked on the day of the event.
5.9 Otley Town Council have received numerous thank you’s from residents
and community groups with regards to what they consider to have been a
major success and a fantastic day.
6. Legal and financial Implications
6.1 There are no legal or financial implications arising from this report.
7. Recommendations
7.1 Members are asked to note the content of this report.