This is how much UCI cycling event cost Harrogate council

Hosting the 2019 UCI Road World Championships cost Harrogate Borough Council a total of £605,000 according to figures published by the authority today.
UCI Road World Championships cyclists during a typically wet day on the town centre circuit in Harrogate last September.UCI Road World Championships cyclists during a typically wet day on the town centre circuit in Harrogate last September.
UCI Road World Championships cyclists during a typically wet day on the town centre circuit in Harrogate last September.

Total expenditure was £1,305,660, but the council secured income totalling £27,000, and a contribution of £673,000 from the Leeds City Region business rates pool, towards offsetting its costs.

The breakdown includes £161,000 for the Ripon race start and fan zones across the district and £30,000 for grants to help local communities celebrate the championships.

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Internal recharges - totalling £130,000 - account for 'gifted’ car park income and some of the use of Harrogate Convention Centre by the event organisers.

The figures confirm the council spent an additional £34,000 on extra staff hours worked providing street cleansing, litter picking, road sweeping and public toilet cleaning.

The Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool was used to pay for the championships cultural programme which included a carnival, sculpture and light installation totalling £184,000.

£300,000 is the investment for promoting inward investment before, during and after the event and putting on a number of business engagement events.

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This includes £18,000 for an economic and visitor impact study carried out by Ernst & Young.

The biggest single amount - £200,000 - was the council's contribution towards the fan zone and spectator infrastructure for the Road World Championships.

As well as the contribution from the Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool, the council secured £10,000 from hiring the Royal Pump Room Museum, charging the event organisers £16,000 for additional car park spaces and £1,000 through a co-branding initiative.

To ensure the event leaves a last impression, money has been allocated for legacy projects at both Harrogate Theatre and Mercer Art Gallery.

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The latter will involve the display of an exhibition called Their Safe Haven, which explores the lives and work of 14 Hungarian artists who chose Britain as their home in the 1930s.

Coun Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, said: “For one of the biggest events in the cycling calendar there was always going to be costs for us, neighbouring authorities and other public bodies.

"Much of the funding, which was received from the Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool, has and will be used to promote inward investment, as well as a number of legacy projects like the sculpture and light installations in Valley Gardens and the Their Safe Haven art exhibition at the Mercer Art Gallery.

"A record 329 million people in more than 124 countries watched the UCI Road World Championships. They have now seen what a wonderful and accommodating place the Harrogate district really is and this will no doubt support our visitor economy for many years to come."