Yorkshire (Tour de France)

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Tuesday 18th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Julian Smith]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I shall come on to the Government shortly, but I want to pay tribute to his work and efforts in ensuring that that effort has always been a cross-party one.

As the right hon. Gentleman says, the bid had the full backing of local authorities in Yorkshire, the police, transport companies and the whole business community. A public campaign was launched to encourage people to show their support for the Yorkshire bid, and it has received more than 170,000 pledges. We have had great support from our regional media—the Yorkshire Post, ITV, the BBC, Thomson Press and Ackrill Media. Even French President Francois Hollande backed Yorkshire’s bid to host le Tour following a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition in Paris.

The Government have challenged the country to embrace localism. Yorkshire has taken that challenge and won the most incredible event for the UK and the north. Many people have been involved, and I again pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland) and many other right hon. and hon. Members and noble Members of the House of Lords who have shown their support. My hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams) hosted the Paris organisers of the Tour de France, and anyone who knows him will know that that was a very good evening.

The person who did the deal—it is important to put this on the record—is Gary Verity, the chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, with his team, and also Tom Riordan, chief executive officer of Leeds city council. When I met Gary Verity and Christian Prudhomme, race director of le Tour, at St Pancras earlier this year, following their whirlwind tour of many of the jewels of Yorkshire, I saw how positive the chemistry and trust between them was. I therefore knew several months ago that we had a good chance of getting the deal. Gary and his team have delivered a great opportunity for Yorkshire, and have again proved that we must ensure that their future and funding is secure.

We do not yet know exactly where the grand départ will be—we will find out in the coming months—but one thing is certain. As my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) has said, the Tour will travel through some of the most beautiful towns and villages in the land.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate on the world’s biggest bike race. In 2014, its grand départ will be in west Yorkshire, an honour and a privilege of which we are all very proud. Full details of the route will not be announced until next month, but does he agree that challenging cycle routes—such as the UK’s longest gradient in the Calder valley, at Cragg vale—and the many hilltop villages around the Calder valley would be excellent venues for cyclists and would bring huge value to the local economy?

[Julian Smith]

I am sure that the Calder valley will be at the top of the short list for the route.

I regularly see cyclists from all parts of the world touring through the Yorkshire dales and Nidderdale, along such world-renowned routes as Greenhow hill outside Pateley Bridge. We could add the starting point in Leeds—Britain’s second financial centre—the industrial heartlands of south Yorkshire, the north Yorkshire moors, the historic cathedral cities of York and Ripon, the gateway to the dales of Skipton and the coastal roads of the east coast. From Harrogate to Selby, Keighley to Halifax, Huddersfield to Masham, the list of places the Tour could go is endless. We could host the whole thing in Yorkshire, not just the grand départ—perhaps, though, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves.

England’s largest county—God’s own—will wow the world and provide exceptional terrain and challenge for the grand départ and the first two stages. With world heritage sites in Fountains abbey and Saltaire and hundreds of homes and attractions, we will entertain the millions of visitors we expect to receive. In addition to the big attractions, we have thousands of smaller tourism businesses across our region already e-mailing to say that they are getting bookings for early July. Heslaker farm, Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream, Theakstons and Black Sheep will all give a warm welcome to visitors. The Tour stages in 2014, in Yorkshire, will be the best ever.

We also have some of the most passionate sports fans in the country. When the Olympic torch passed through Yorkshire, we had double the national daily average of people watching elsewhere in the country. With millions being invested by the Government in better broadband across north Yorkshire, we are creating the infrastructure to make the event a success. The Government have invested in the Northern Hub, bus services and other transport links. We are even asking our world famous Yorkshire bishops to assist with the weather.

This morning at Westminster, right hon. and hon. Members from across the House are forming a Yorkshire and UK Tour de France all-party parliamentary group to ensure that this place gives all the support that it can. There are 54 MPs from Yorkshire alone, which is nearly 10% of the House of Commons.

Before the Olympic games, people often said to me, “It is great, but it won’t mean much for Yorkshire.” Even the most hardened critic will now admit that they were wrong. I am talking about not just the feel-good factor of the games themselves or the economic boost from people coming to the UK, but the lasting legacy. With the Tour de France win, we will see Yorkshire as the centre of focus for 2014, with other parts of the UK benefiting as well. Less than two years after London 2012, we can look forward to another of the world’s biggest sporting events coming to this country, but this time it is coming to the north.

In 2007, the Tour stages in the south-east of England were worth £88 million. Bringing the grand départ to Yorkshire will be worth more than £300 million. For an area of Britain that has weathered the global economic storm but is finding things tough, the event will make a real difference. Businesses big and small across Yorkshire now need to be on red alert to take advantage of all the procurement and support services that will be needed. As Members of Parliament, we will provide all the help that we can, and I hope that the Government will play their part.

From ice cream to beer, hotel rooms to office support, there will be huge opportunities, but there will be broader potential to benefit, too. This is the most watched sporting event, with more than 3.5 billion viewers worldwide. More than 185 countries around the world show the Tour de France every year on 92 different television channels, with the last hour of every stage broadcast live across western Europe.

Yorkshire businesses that currently work abroad or that would like to do so in the future should think of this event as the biggest shop window there is. It will be a great advertisement to companies and people elsewhere in the world who have not heard of Yorkshire and who are looking for a UK base and who want to relocate in the north. It will also be good for the health of our region. We need to get out and exercise more; the Yorkshire Tour will vastly expand the number of bike routes and promote exercise and activity to all.

Yorkshire’s legacy plans are already being discussed and formalised. They include a bike bank, so all children in Yorkshire have access to a bike. There will be more investment in cycle lanes and cycle infrastructure across the county. There will be a cultural festival, too, celebrating both cycling and Yorkshire art and culture. Yorkshire has so much to offer the world, and we now have the chance to showcase that on an unbelievable scale. From literary buffs to entrepreneurs and from couch potatoes to exercise fanatics, le Tour has the potential to change lives.

We are incredibly proud and pleased to be hosting the Tour. There will be a celebratory dinner in Leeds on 17 January to which the Minister has been invited. There is much work to be done over the year ahead to plan the route. As I said at the start, this has been a team effort. Although UK Sport may not have been part of the Yorkshire bid, I was delighted that the Minister for Sport promised to back it 100% if we made it. Yes, Yorkshire has got this far on its own, but to make the very best of the event, we need Government support as well. Will the Minister outline the areas in which the Government will help? How do we get every Department behind this event? How do we ensure that we learn everything from the Olympics and London 2012 and transfer that to the Tour in 2014? How do we ensure that the regional growth fund, skills funding, roads funding and broadband are all right behind the Yorkshire Tour; that UK Trade and Investment makes the most of inward investment opportunities and exports; and, most importantly, that UK Sport, British Cycling and other bodies get behind this win financially?

We want to use this event to help rebalance the British economy, and we need the Government’s help to do so. As one of Britain’s great Sports Ministers, I am confident that my right hon. Friend will rise to the challenge, and I look forward to his response. I urge him to meet me, the bid team and other right hon. and hon. Members this week, and I look forward to his being part of this great event, as he was with the Olympics, showing that this Government are the Government for Sport.

I can already state with confidence that Yorkshire’s Tour de France stages will be a world-beating event. When everyone talked about a lasting Olympic legacy, this must surely be it. I thank London 2012 for setting the bar so high, but if it thought that the world got a great reception from the capital, just wait until it gets the Yorkshire treatment in 2014.