THE Tour de Yorkshire in Settle was a hugely successful event that left the town buzzing, heard Craven councillors.

Despite a conflict with organisers, Welcome to Yorkshire over sponsors, cost of staging a finish of the three day cycle race last April also came in £21,000 under budget.

Councillors heard Craven had not been able to secure a planned main private sponsor, because of the conflict with the tourism agency.

But despite that, the event was declared a great success with news programmes basing themselves in the town and together with national cycling coverage, Settle was beamed to a worldwide audience of 11.4 million.

Several sections of the community came together with Settle Town Council and host organisation, Craven, to make the event the success it was, heard Craven Council's Policy Committee.

Data from Leeds Beckett University suggested there had been a more than 27 per cent increase in the take up of visitor accommodation.

Chief executive, Paul Shevlin said the council, with its partners, had done a fantastic job, organisation on the day had gone 'like clockwork' and even with the lack of private sponsorship the final cost was under budget.

Councillors had agreed £170,000, and together with £10,000 from the national park, £5,000 from Settle Council and £3,291 from Welcome to Yorkshire, cost of the event had come in at £167,659 - leaving a remaining balance of £21,000.

Settle councillor Wendy Hull, said the event had left a long lasting legacy in the town, from the letters spelling out 'Settle' on Castleberg Rock to the increased numbers at the tourist information centre.

She said a recently launched parking disc scheme had proved so popular that 9,000 had already gone and more were being ordered.

But Ingleton councillor David Ireton said not everyone had benefitted and that it had been a 'disaster' in his ward with no one visiting because they had thought the roads would be closed off.

Council leader, Cllr Richard Foster agreed his Grassington ward had been very quiet on the day itself, but that businesses had more than made up for it after the event because of all the publicity.

Mr Shevlin pointed out that the Tour de France, when it came to Craven in 2014 had meant total road closures, while the Tour de Yorkshire involved less disruptive rolling closures.

Cllr Simon Myers said having such events in Craven succeeded in raising the profile of the entire area, but believed the council could have lost out because of Welcome to Yorkshire and its advertising.

"I do feel we were left a bit short by Welcome to Yorkshire. They told us we could raise money by sponsorship. I think Welcome to Yorkshire did a superb job, but they did stop us from saving £60,000 of council tax payers money.

"The next time they come to us for a bit of money, we need to be a bit more circumspect, even though I think they did a brilliant job in other ways," he said.