A Silsden councillor has praised local churchgoers for their flower-powered Tour de France project.

Silsden Methodist Church is decorating wooden bike shapes with flowers for a display when the cyclists ride past this summer.

Several church groups, individuals and families are decorating separate bikes for a flower festival in the church in the run-up to the race.

Adrian Naylor, a district and town councillor, suggested the “novel” idea could be expanded to involve the whole of Silsden.

Coun Naylor said the church’s project was discussed at the first meeting of a new group formed to co-ordinate Silsden’s involvement in the Tour.

He said: “There were suggestions we could get businesses down the High Street to sponsor a bike each and put them in their windows.”

The idea was the brainchild of Silsden Methodist Church member William Jowitt, who has cut about 20 wooden bikes using specialist equipment at Keighley’s Fab Lab.