THE overall cost of staging last year's Tour de France in Craven was just under £200,000, it has been confirmed.

The largest amount of £147,000 was met by Craven District Council, but with contributions of £17,000 from Skipton Town Partnership, £7,000 from Skipton Town Council and the remainder from other bodies.

The £2,500 left over is now set to be put towards a Skipton town centre cycle race - as part of the legacy of the hugely successful event.

Although planning is in its early stages and not yet sealed, discussions have already taken place with Skipton Town Council.

Last week, Craven District Council's policy committee agreed the two days the Tour spent in Craven last summer had been a massive success which had succeeded in advertising the area to a worldwide audience.

Its economic benefits had been huge and would hopefully be felt for many years to come.

Cllr Simon Myers (Cons) said some 26,000 people were in Skipton for the event and it had brought more than £100 million of economic benefit to Yorkshire as a whole. The accommodation industry across the country had befitted by £24.3 million, a large proportion of which would have gone to Craven, he said.

Cllr Myers said objectives as part of the legacy of the tour were to improve the cycling structure in Craven, and to develop cycling events and festivals. It was also planned to improve training to make cycling safer for all road users.

"There were those who said it could not be done and that Craven would not deliver this fantastic sporting event to the world, but we have done the people of Craven proud," he said.

Cllr Robert Heseltine (Ind) agreed it had been a hugely successful event and paid tribute to the contribution made by Skipton Town Council and Skipton Town Partnership.

But Cllr John Kerwin-Davey (Ind) while acknowledging the event had been a great social occasion, said it was wrong to say it had brought great financial benefits to everyone.

"There is no doubt it was a very successful social event, was well organised and showed Craven in a very favourable way to billions of people, but we should not run away with saying it was a financial success, because it was not. As many businesses suffered from it, as profited," he said.