A report presented to LCC noted the Reform UK-run authority was obliged to “enter into legal agreements” relating to Lancashire’s participation in Stage 2 of the ‘Grand Depart’ of the 2027 Tour – which will come with an unspecified cost.<\/p>\n
It is understood the money will be used to carry out work on the highway in order to ensure the 80-mile route through Lancashire is fit to stage the event. <\/p>\n
Separate, additional funding from the county council’s day-to-day budget will also be needed, according to the cabinet report.<\/p>\n
Almost \u00a321m has been reserved for scheduled resurfacing and pre-emptive repairs on more than a hundred roads and footways, and it is expected that at least \u00a328m of the total maintenance fund will be spent filling in potholes that appear during the year ahead.<\/p>\n
Liberal Democrat county councillor David Whipp – who last week made an unsuccessful call on the authority to review how it prioritises funding for highway repairs within its overall capital programme – told the Local Democracy Reporting Service<\/a> he was “very much in favour” of Lancashire hosting the Tour.<\/p>\n However, the politician \u2013 who also leads Pendle Council \u2013 said that it should be funded “in a way that doesn’t undermine the rest of the work that the county council should be doing”.<\/p>\n Azhar Ali, leader of the Progressive Lancashire official opposition group at County Hall, said the roads on the Tour’s route through the county were going to have to be in “immaculate condition”.<\/p>\n He added: “That’s going to cost a couple of million pounds at least, I would have thought. And it’s important that it’s not just the route [that is well prepared], but everything in the surrounding area.” <\/p>\n