North Yorkshire Police quizzed over readiness for UCI Road World Championships

Officers from North Yorkshire Police have been quizzed by councillors over their readiness for September’s UCI Road World Championships.

While some of the races comprising the event, which takes place from 22-29 September, will start in towns and cities across the region, all will finish in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

Inspector Jeff McKeown said that restrictions had been placed on police leave during the championships, reports Stray FM.

Inspector McKeown said: “Over the last 18 months North Yorkshire Police, other police forces and wider key stakeholders have been engaged in related planning.

“We have implemented measures to maximise the availability of resources, including a leave restriction for all police officers.

"This is to ensure sufficient resources are available to police the event each day, whilst ensuring we have resilience to deliver our 'business as usual' aspects of policing across the force."

As with the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2014, when the opening stage finished in Harrogate, and the annual Tour de Yorkshire which made its debut the following year, hundreds of thousands of spectators are likely to be drawn to the event.

He said that the policing operation "will involve a combination of officers and PCSOs from Harrogate district and colleagues from across the force.

"It will also involve a range of officers with specialist capabilities from both North Yorkshire Police and other regional forces.

“We are also currently evaluating our resourcing requirements in Harrogate for the periods outside the event times, into the evenings and overnight."

“We will ensure there are appropriate police resources to meet demands and to provide reassurance to both residents and visitors alike,” he added.

Stray FM reports that at a recent meeting of an overview and scrutiny committee meeting of Harrogate Borough Council Inspector Steve Breen, North Yorkshire Police’s Inspector for Harrogate Rural, was asked whether the town itself would receive support from other districts.

He said: “In terms of community policing, it's up to me and [Inspector] Penny [Taylor) to make the best of it. No one's getting any leave, no one's getting any days off”.

The inspector said that a temporary increase in all categories of crime was expected during the event due to the “huge volume” of visitors but added that officers were "not expecting a huge rise in any one particular crime."

While the UCI Road World Championships are contested by national not trade teams, there is a possibility that the event, as well as next month’s Tour de Yorkshire, may be targeted by anti-fracking protesters as a result of the purchase of Team Sky, most if not all of whose riders will participate in September.

Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing and safer communities, noting the successful policing of other cycling events, said: "I don't have any major concerns that North Yorkshire Police can do the job required of them and they've shown in the past that they can do it."

As with the opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France, the finish area for the event will take place on The Stray area of public parkland in Harrogate, subject to approval from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police have been quizzed by councillors over their readiness for September’s UCI Road World Championships.

While some of the races comprising the event, which takes place from 22-29 September, will start in towns and cities across the region, all will finish in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

Inspector Jeff McKeown said that restrictions had been placed on police leave during the championships, reports Stray FM.

Inspector McKeown said: “Over the last eighteen months North Yorkshire Police, other police forces and wider key stakeholders have been engaged in related planning.

“We have implemented measures to maximise the availability of resources, including a leave restriction for all police officers.

"This is to ensure sufficient resources are available to police the event each day, whilst ensuring we have resilience to deliver our 'business as usual' aspects of policing across the force."

As with the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2014, when the opening stage finished in Harrogate, and the annual Tour de Yorkshire which made its debut the following year, hundreds of thousands of spectators are likely to be drawn to the event.

He said that the policing operation "will involve a combination of officers and PCSOs from Harrogate district and colleagues from across the force.

"It will also involve a range of officers with specialist capabilities from both North Yorkshire Police and other regional forces.

“We are also currently evaluating our resourcing requirements in Harrogate for the periods outside the event times, into the evenings and overnight."

“We will ensure there are appropriate police resources to meet demands and to provide reassurance to both residents and visitors alike,” he added.

Stray FM reports that at a recent meeting of an overview and scrutiny committee meeting of Harrogate Borough Council Inspector Steve Breen, North Yorkshire Police’s Inspector for Harrogate Rural, was asked whether the town itself would receive support from other districts.

He said: “In terms of community policing, it's up to me and [Inspector] Penny [Taylor) to make the best of it. No one's getting any leave, no one's getting any days off”.

The inspector said that a temporary increase in all categories of crime was expected during the event due to the “huge volume” of visitors but added that officers were "not expecting a huge rise in any one particular crime."

While the UCI Road World Championships are contested by national not trade teams, there is a possibility that the event, as well as next month’s Tour de Yorkshire, may be targeted by anti-fracking protesters as a result of the purchase of Team Sky, most if not all of whose riders will participate in September.

Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing and safer communities, noting the successful policing of other cycling events, said: "I don't have any major concerns that North Yorkshire Police can do the job required of them and they've shown in the past that they can do it."

As with the opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France, the finish area for the event will take place on The Stray area of public parkland in Harrogate, subject to approval from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

> Parliamentary committee approves Harrogate Road Worlds finish - but criticises council over public consultation process