Tour of Britain: Isle of Wight scrapped cycle race leg leaves council £350k short

The Isle of Wight Council is £350,000 out of pocket after the last leg of the Tour of Britain was cancelled

A decision to scrap the final leg of the Tour of Britain cycling event following the death of the Queen has cost a council £350,000.

The race was planned for the Isle of Wight in 2021 but the pandemic delayed the race by 12 months.

It was then supposed to take place on 11 September 2022 but had to be cancelled two days before following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The council said organiser Sweetspot had refused to provide a refund.

A spokesperson for company said its preferred option would be to host a stage of the Tour of Britain in 2024 on the island to replace the one that couldn't take place in 2022.

The authority said its contract with the organiser said that in the case of an extraordinary event beyond the control of either party - a "force majeure" - it would be entitled to a refund of the host venue fees, after real costs had been deducted.

It said SweetSpot was suitably insured to allow for this to happen, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) .

But it added that the company "made clear" that "it would not be in a position to refund any of the money".

The spokesperson for Sweetspot said: "Given the excitement around the stage and huge amount of work over the previous two years that had gone into it, it would be a real shame if a stage of the Tour of Britain could not now take place on the Isle of Wight."

It added that contingency cover in the event of a death of a senior member of the Royal Family has been "prohibitively expensive and commercially unviable".

"As a result, insurance did not cover the enforced cancellation of the event following the passing of Her Majesty the Queen," it said.

Other payments

The council had also made other payments for road closure orders, marketing and public relations and some fees were able to be recouped.

But due to the last-minute cancellation, the council still had to pay £100,000.

Some sponsorship agreements covering costs had been agreed but were not possible when the event did not happen.

The council said a sum would be provided against a future cycling event on the island and its corporate scrutiny committee would consider the situation on 10 January.