South Kesteven District Council tells organiser of Bourne CiCLE Festival it cannot support the event financially

The chief organiser of the Bourne CiCLE Festival has been told that the district council is “unable to support it financially”.

Brian Moran said he was unsurprised by the announcement but still felt hugely disappointed that the success of the 2019 event may now never be replicated.

He told this newspaper the news meant Bourne and the surrounding area would lose out on the economic boost that the event would bring.

And it also means the chance of finding and nurturing local talent to be the next Olympic heroes was quickly vanishing.

At the start of September, South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) had said it would spend the next few months looking at which festivals to back, including Bourne CiCLE, Stamford Georgian and Gravity Fields in Grantham.

But on Thursday (September 24) Mr Moran received a letter from Coun Rosemary Trollope-Bellew (Con), the council's cabinet member for culture and visitor economy, saying the cycling event could not be supported.

“I’m disappointed but it’s nothing that wasn’t expected,” said Mr Moran, a cycling enthusiast who was the festival’s race director in 2019.

“It was important to help produce the next generation of British medal winners that the country could be proud of, but this now looks less likely.

“The way things are going I can’t see any event happening until at least 2022 now, and that’s if it happens at all.”

In her letter, Coun Trollope-Bellew thanked him for his involvement in the ‘pilot event’ last year, but said his business proposal for a second event next year was unviable.

She wrote: “The council has considered your proposal in detail and fully accepts your comments regarding the health benefits of cycling. However, given the current economic pressures on this council, the council is unable to financially support the cycling festival.

“The 2019 pilot event incurred costs beyond its budget, and the council is unable to see how the costs can be reduced to substantiate your proposal. The pilot event in 2019 benefited from significant sponsorship, which cannot be guaranteed in the current circumstances, and this is a key consideration in the council’s decision to not proceed with its financial support for the event.”

Coun Trollope-Bellew said that funding the event would represent a “huge risk to the council as the prime stakeholder”.

But she said the authority could offer “some support”, should Mr Moran and his associates take on all the risk of running the festival.

Mr Moran accepted that Covid had made it less likely that companies would sponsor the festival but remained confident it could prove an economic success if it went ahead.

Bourne CiCLE Festival is organised through SKDC and its economic growth and regeneration company InvestSK.

It went over-budget in 2019 - costing around £100,000 rather than the projected £75,000 - but was widely regarded as hugely beneficial to the area.

The aim had originally been for SKDC to pledge its support over three years to allow the festival to gain momentum.

Ultimately, it was hoped it would attract international competitors and compete with the likes of the Tour de Yorkshire.