Agenda item

·      The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 and Classic events for the period to 2017 be approved as the County’s legacy cycling events.

·      That, in order to achieve the above,  the Council will continue to collaborate with the Greater London Authority, Transport for London and other delivery partners to deliver the events

·      The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 and Classic routes for 2014 be approved in principle and the final detail of the route be determined by either the Assistant Chief Executive or Strategic Director Environment and Infrastructure in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the Cabinet Member for Transport, Highways and the Environment.  

·      That a further decision will be taken regarding the proposed route for future events.

Reasons for Decisions:

The 2012 Olympic Games positioned Surrey as a centre for cycling and presented a once in a lifetime opportunity to realise the economic, health and environmental benefits from this. The Surrey Cycling Strategy sets out how these benefits will be realised.

An important aspect of this is the tourism and inspirational benefit derived from the profile of the Olympic road races.  To that end, following the successful operation of the 2013 PRLS events and the consultation feedback indicating widespread support for major cycling events, the PRLS events will be established as the county’s 2012 Olympic legacy cycling events. 

As part of the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games, the Cabinet approved support for a cycling event, later named ‘Prudential RideLondon’. This is a two day festival that includes the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic and 100 based on the route of the Olympic Cycling Road Races. The festival took place on 3/4 August 2013. Over 16,000 people took part in the 100, including about 2,000 Surrey residents. Over £7m was raised for charity.

In August 2013, Surrey County Council approached the Mayor of London to secure local access to grants for money raised by the London Marathon Trust for Surrey based bids. The Trust amended its terms to make this possible and a number of Surrey based activities had received a total of £335k of funding. It was hoped that the number of organisations directly benefiting from the event would continue to grow next year.

The Chairman advised that the Olympics had been won on the basis of legacy and the commitment to hold legacy events had been part of this agreement. The Olympic and subsequent events had been held safely and successfully and the council had committed to learn lessons from each event. This included feedback about road closures and how this could be done better.

Mr Bill Barker asked a question relating to emergency access on the day of the event and advised that he had been made aware of a resident whose call for an ambulance had been delayed. The Chairman advised that, as set out in the Strategy, responses to emergency incidents were the top priority for each event. With Surrey County Council, local District and Borough Councils and the emergency services all signed up to a shared protocol, this type of shouldn’t happen. The importance of ensuring that marshals on the route were well trained in the correct procedures was also noted. Emergency response arrangements and plans should also be well communicated with local Members.

It was noted that, while the event itself had been a success with many positive and supportive comments, two main themes could be identified within the more negative feedback. These related to requests to consider using different routes and the potential loss to some local businesses. The Cabinet Member for Community Services advised that the establishment of a regular route had positive benefits, meaning that lessons could be learnt year on year, responding to experience and the comments received to make adjustments and open closed roads sooner. The Cabinet Member for Transport, Highways and Environment agreed that many roads closed for the event in 2013 would be opened earlier in future in the light of the experience gained. 

Cabinet Members noted the concerns raised about some businesses being affected by access issues without being well placed to directly share in the benefits of the event. Whilst some local businesses along the event route had benefited from crowds, increased trade and a carnival atmosphere, it was acknowledged that this was not the experience of all and it was a tough time generally for rural businesses. The council was keen to learn lessons from other charity events to help enable rural businesses to benefit from association with the event eg joint promotion with the lead charities and beneficiaries to work together.

Cabinet Members expressed support for the measures to be taken to provide a safe and well planned legacy cycling event with an improved experience year on year.

RESOLVED:

1.         The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 and Classic events for the period to 2017 be approved as the County’s legacy cycling events.

2.         That, in order to achieve the above, the Council will continue to collaborate with the Greater London Authority, Transport for London and other delivery partners to deliver the events

3.         The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 and Classic routes for 2014 be approved in principle and the final detail of the route be determined by either the Assistant Chief Executive or Strategic Director Environment and Infrastructure in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the Cabinet Member for Transport, Highways and the Environment.

4.         That a further decision will be taken regarding the proposed route for future events.

Reasons for Decisions:

The 2012 Olympic Games positioned Surrey as a centre for cycling and presented a once in a lifetime opportunity to realise the economic, health and environmental benefits from this. The Surrey Cycling Strategy sets out how these benefits will be realised.

An important aspect of this is the tourism and inspirational benefit derived from the profile of the Olympic road races.  To that end, following the successful operation of the 2013 PRLS events and the consultation feedback indicating widespread support for major cycling events, the PRLS events will be established as the county’s 2012 Olympic legacy cycling events.