Plans for the visit of the Tour de France 2014

Cycle race

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The Pennine Business and Tourism Forum held a public meeting at Littleborough Conservative Club on the evening of Thursday 11 July 2013 to progress plans for the visit of the “Tour de France 2014” to the South Pennine’s area on 5/6 July 2014.

John Kay, a Director of Rochdale Online, and the Chairman of The Pennine Business and Tourism Forum opened the meeting by pointing out the tremendous business opportunities this event will bring to the Littleborough area.

John introduced Pam Warhurst, Chairwoman of Pennine Prospects, who explained that it was thanks to the efforts and money of “Welcome to Yorkshire” that they had won the opportunity to stage the first two days of the “Grand Depart” for next year’s Tour De France which is often held outside France.

She confirmed that already along the route and within the area, villages and towns were planning how they would celebrate and take advantage of the huge number of tourists this would attract to the area. Todmorden had plans well in hand, with painted bicycles hanging off sign boards, etc, and the route did not actually pass through there.

It was therefore well timed that The Pennine Business and Tourism Forum should have started its plans and thanks to Nick Andrews to have invited Pennine Prospects to this meeting.

Mark Turner, also from Pennine Prospects, showed a number of silent movies demonstrating the huge following that the race attracted, not only to watch the riders but also the leading procession which was often up to seven miles long.

Events leading up to the race would take place over a period of 100 day beforehand. There will be a need for 5,000 beds each night, 2,000 of which would be for the media following the event. Some Local Authorities would relax their planning requirements to enable caravans and tents to use suitable spaces. Economic benefit could be felt over an area 50 miles from the route.

The meeting was then thrown open to the audience which included local councillors, representatives from local sports clubs, residents and Francis Comyn, Nick Andrews and Julian Jefferson from Rochdale MBC. There were many constructive ideas on how local people and businesses can benefit from this event, which passes through Littleborough close to the White House Inn. The race will be the focal point for local activities over many days.

Full details of future plans can be obtained from www.pennineforum.co.uk on which there is an “opt-in” form for the monthly Newsletter. All present at this meeting agreed to “opt-in” and any businesses in the Pennine Township or elsewhere in Rochdale who would like the newsletter should do so via the said website.

This is “good news” for Littleborough which is the centre of tourism for Rochdale Borough.