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news
Boris Johnson (picture credit Prudential RideLondon)Boris Johnson says he pulled London's 2017 Tour de France Grand Depart
Boris Johnson says he is responsible for the last-minute about-turn to withdraw London’s bid to host the Grand Depart of the 2017 Tour de France – a decision that may have disappointed many cycling fans, as well as some political rivals, but which has been applauded by campaigners.
As we reported yesterday, Transport for London (TFL), which the mayor chairs, decided the day before it was due to sign a contract with race organisers ASO which had awarded it the event not to go ahead with it, citing financial concerns.
– London wins Grand Depart of 2017 Tour de France - then TfL withdraws bid at 11th hour
The start of the race in 2017 now seems set to go to Germany – despite Edinburgh and Manchester also submitting bids, and with ASO said to be angry with TfL over the decision, there is concern it may harm future attempts from the UK to bring the race back.
Speaking to BBC London 94.9, Mr Johnson, who leaves office next May, said the money would be better spend on cycling infrastructure.
"I will not waste cycling money on something that would only deliver very brief benefits,” he explained.
"I'm afraid I have got to put my hands up here and say I took the decision not to go forward with it.
"You've got to take some tough decisions in government and I think 35 million quid on a one-off event was just not worth it for London."
That’s more than the money – £30 million – that was last year awarded by TfL to each of three boroughs, Waltham Forest, Enfield and Kingston-upon-Thames, for their Mini Holland schemes.
Controversially, when London hosted the finish of Stage 6 of last year’s Tour de France, the £6 million cost came from TfL’s cycling budget.
And with much of that £35 million to host the opening days of the race the year after next likely to come from the same source, some campaigners are saying it is a good thing that TfL changed its mind.
Danny Williams of the blog Cyclists in the City and a member of the mayor’s road task force, tweeted: “I'm a fan but not of spending safety cash this way.”
Green Party London Assembly Member Darren Johnson said: “Should we have bid for Tour de France? Yes: clear economic benefits. Should money have come from cycle budget? No: needed for safety imps [improvements].”
And British Cycling policy advisor Chris Boardman, former world and Olympic champion and wearer of the race leader’s yellow jersey at the Tour de France, said on Twitter earlier today: “Just waking up in the US to the London/TfL/TdF story.
“Don't know the details but if I had to choose, I'd spend it on infrastructure as well.”
He reflected the views of many by adding: “That said, why bid in the first place?”
The current mayor – since May, also MP for Uxbridge & South Ruislip – will no longer be in office by July 2017 when the Tour de France would have visited the British capital.
Sadiq Khan, who earlier this month secured the Labour Party’s nomination for next year’s mayoral elections, said the decision not to welcome the race meant the city had "wasted a huge opportunity."
Isabel Dedring, London’s deputy mayor for transport, and personally appointed by Mr Johnson told The Guardian: “The mayor has always made it clear that he was supportive of the Tour coming to London subject to funding being available.
“There were extensive discussions, internally and with government, on finding the requisite £35 million but in the end a funding route could not be found.
“The only option would have been to take it from the budget dedicated to cycling improvements in the city, which we were not prepared to do.”
As many have pointed out, however, Mr Johnson still supports TfL paying £30 million towards the controversial proposals to build the so-called Garden Bridge across the Thames – which will also attract ongoing annual maintenance costs.
The decision not to fund the Grand Depart comes ahead of the government’s spending review, which is widely anticipated to result in funding cuts to local authorities across the country.
How that will affect the £913 million Mr Johnson has pledged to cycling in the capital over the current decade remains to be seen.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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28 comments
Hey, give they guy some slack! He has to get the 30 million to fund the garden bridge from *somewhere*
Remind me how much TfL and government are spunking on that Garden Bridge nonsense?
I'm a southern lad but I'm sick of London this, London that.
The floppy haired gibbon shown poor leadership here. If any financial planning was in place they could have made this decision much earlier.
I'm sure the £35m will be spent on infrastructure - Boris' mates will meet and discuss in a plush London hotel, plans will be drawn Niimby's will moan, experts will be consulted, an expert that they prefer the opinion of will be consulted, more meetings, more Nimby's will moan, then they will buy a tin of white paint...
Screw London anyway, everyone treats it like its the majority of the UK - what about the other 56 million UK residents (8 million in London) who don't live inside that dump of a capital?
I say we let them secede from the UK, and form their own state where they sit around in overpriced rotten bedsits while the top 0.01% reside in their glass towers with embarassing nicknames ("walkie talkie", "cheese grater", "gherkin") and decided that what they really need is a bridge with grass on it (they'll probably call it "the bush" or something similarly cringy) and a damn cable car ( why isn't this "SKY TUBE"). BUT they would still tell you with a mouth full of £9-a-bowl-cereal from a cafe that its the best place to live.
/rant
I don't know if you got the memo, but the City of London, the Square Mile, really *is* its own state. It predates England as a country, and much legislation explicitly excludes the City. It has its own police force, and is (arguably) the first 'offshore' jurisdiction in that its rules are different from the rest of the country. Did you know that, in the City, for example, corporations get to vote in the local elections?
Congratulations - City of London the "state" which has a higher % of people living in poverty than Afghanistan, Iran and Brazil.
a very very big thank you Boris; at last we can get rid of all those "big" events that are just a big nuisance. TdF is just a "caravane publicitaire" ...
Like the London Marathon?
Does the funding for that come from the TfL budgets?
Why on earth should the money have to come from the TFL budget? Surely hosting the TDF benefits the whole of London not transport (as well as reputationally etc., the whole country)? Why can't central government sport buget chip in as well as some of the phenomenally wealthy financial companies based in the 'city'?
Also, Ive yet to see any evidence of 'mini Holland' improvements in Kingston! My understanding was if not spent within a tight limit it would be taken back?
Indeed, and taking a step further back, why are TfL bidding for sporting spectacles in the first place? I can see that they would need to be involved because of the implications for road closures etc, but this is not a "transport" event.
I hope the accountants for TfL are geared up for all the requests for information to prove that the money that would have been spent on this actually do go on cycling infrastructure, otherwise it could get a bit tetchy.
Lefties all think money should go on both, no choices necessary spending is investment, debts are reduced by spending on pet projects as that brings in more money. If that doesn't work just print more and spend that too.
Good decision, even better if strategy blocks other UK areas squandering money on local vanity projects.
What a bizarre comment.
I think its good they saw sense and cancelled if it means they don't spend the cycling infrastructure budget on a sports event... but when TfL chronically underspend the cycling budget by massive amounts every year it hardly matters does it?
Just out of interest i was wondering how much it cost to actually put the bid together ?
However knowing boris it was probably written on the back of his MP expenses claim.
More than likely it's been peer pressure from cameron and osbourne saying you cant have the money, we have to use it on a nice bridge.
Manchester did not submit a bid. Who says they did?
I was thinking the same thing. Why is this idea still being bandied about? Either Mcr City Council are lying (wouldnt put it past them) or its just a rumour that has been repeated so much lazy journalists report it as fact.
1) Leaving the decision to the last day to decided if TfL wanted to do this is the most blatant, crass, stupid thin they could have done.
2) TfL should concentrate on transport and safety and not spot - that is obvious.
3) TfL want speed bumps in Regents park. For safety? No. It's been proved they won't help. The reason they gave - "to ensure we spend our budget so it won't get cut next year."
So where is the logic and value for money there?
Boris may be acting head of TfL but clearly he is not singing on the same song sheet as the rest of the organisation. What a farce.
The strangest part of the whole thing is the idea of a Sporting Event funded from the Transport Budget.
It's like maintenance work for the M1 is going to put on hold so that Britain can host the world's largest Formula One event.
Sport and Transport are... just not the same thing.
It wouldn't have been as good as Yorkshire anyway
Why would the grand depart come out of cycling funds anyway? Does the DfT fund formula one racing? What Boris means is that he needs to talk to a woman about a bridge...
I have no problem with spending the money on infrastructure, sound investment.
There are much more interesting places to host the TDF in the UK anyway.
However why the farce of putting the bid in if it was not serious?
But there are some concerns:
1) Is it a coincidence that this story breaks the day after the TdY financial problems story?
2) Why would the TDf be funded out of the cycling infrastructure budget anyway? hosting major sporting events, such as the the TDF, or the Olympics or Rugby world cup is done to promote sport and healthy life styles to the home crowd and the UK as a tourist destination to the rest of the world.
Personally I feel this is a political decision, in that the government do not want to be seen to be spending big money on the TDF when there are big spending cuts on the horizon - even if the TDF would bring in more money in the long term.
What a plonker, London shouldn't have placed a bid so Edinburgh or Manc could have had a shot, what a complete waste. London gets far too many cycling events as it is.
Let's hope the £35m *is* spent on cycling infrastructure. It's desperately needed.
Well done, Boris. You should have made this decision BEFORE applying.
I'm sure you have buggered it up for Birmingham and Manchester too.
The French will not offer it again now.
Clown.
Totally agree.
Birmingham or Manchester wouldn't be able to cover it with less than 30 years cycling budget...
Fascinating.