WREXHAM Council looks set to spend an extra £40,000 to host a final stage of the Tour of Britain after organisers axed the Tour Series planned for next month.

It means the authority is set to splash out a third more than originally intended after the Tour Series planned for May was pulled, pushing the cost to the council up past six figures from £80,000 to at least £124,000.

Last year the authority’s executive board agreed for Wrexham to host the Tour Series funding the £80,000 host fee from the council’s Placemaking budget.

But in February the organisers told the council the Tour Series was no longer going ahead due to a lack of support from other local authorities to make it viable.

As an alternative Wrexham Council has been offered the chance to host a stage finish of the Tour of Britain in September this year.

The host fee for Tour of Britain is £124,000 (£44,000 more that the Tour Series). In addition to the hosting fee there are specific hosting obligations which will add extra costs as well.

According to the council, the exact final cost of hosting the event is unknown.

But a report will go to the executive board next week where councillors will be expected to support the move.

It says hosting the tour is expected to bring a £4m boost to the North Wales economy based on 2015 when Wrexham previously hosted, when the net visitor expenditure of the Tour of Britain event in the area that year had “a gross expenditure impact of £4,840,483”.

Other benefits the council is anticipating include national and global coverage, a platform to engage communities and schools, and an estimated 64 per cent of spectators being inspired to cycle more - which links into the council’s ‘sporting aspirations’.

These figures are based on a similar event in Nottinghamshire where a stage finish in the 2022 race was hosted.

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The report states: “An economic impact assessment commissioned by event organisers reveals that the showpiece cycle race generated £4.34m in net visitor expenditure for Nottinghamshire’s economy – with an impressive 225,000 fans lining the 186.8km (116m) route.”

Speaking at a media briefing, lead member for economy and regeneration, Gwenfro Cllr Nigel Williams (Ind) maintained the change of hosting plans was still within budget.

He said: “It’s the largest most prestigious cycling event in the UK and it is free for spectators.

“The costs are all within the allocated budget for the year, for placemaking.

“It’s still all within budget. The placemaking budget was put in place last year and as projects come up each one is looked at on its own merit and costed.

“This came up in February. We were told the original Tour Series wasn’t going to go ahead and financially this still sits within budget.”

The council’s chief executive Ian Bancroft added: “The Tour of Britain is fairly major in the cycling calendar. The Tour Series has been less embedded.

“The idea was to promote cities this year and major areas. Our reading is they haven’t been able to get the support for the range of events in the calendar. If there was one they were going to stick to, it would be the Tour of Britain, and I think getting a Stage Finish is extremely significant.

“You want a Stage Finish if you’re going to maximise publicity and economic impact.”

Leader of the council, Esclusham Cllr Mark Pritchard (Ind) added that he hopes the change of plan will gain support.

“I think it’s fantastic for Wrexham, North Wales”, he said.

“We’re aspirational, we want to promote Wrexham as a place. We hope the hotels do well, we hope a lot of people come in their thousands to support it.

“This should tell you how ambitious we are as a council to put major events on during this very difficult time.

“These aren’t easy times but we’ve said the economy, the businesses, profile of Wrexham is global now. It’s a showcase, it’s only the start.”

Wrexham Council’s executive board will make a decision on whether to back hosting the Final Stage when it meets on Tuesday (April 18).