The Tour de France will start in Edinburgh in 2027, after the signing of a host agreement was approved by councillors.<\/p>\n
The go-ahead for the event was confirmed at a special meeting called on Tuesday to discuss the agreement.<\/p>\n
But details of exactly what the city has agreed to have not been made public, with most discussion around the agreement kept private.<\/p>\n
Edinburgh has agreed to set aside \u00a31.7 million of funding, which it is hoped will be covered by income from the city\u2019s visitor\u00a0levy.<\/p>\n
Councillors were assured that an agreement that the Scottish Government cover any financial overruns beyond the \u00a31.7m price tag was \u201cironclad\u201d.<\/p>\n
But a Conservative councillor questioned\u00a0 a \u2018cap\u2019 that may have been placed on the Scottish Government\u2019s level of financial support for the event. Officers said that any discussions about that subject would have to happen in the private portion of the meeting.<\/p>\n
The councillor was referencing discussions which happened at a briefing on Tuesday between council stakeholders and Scottish Government representatives, which included Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes.<\/p>\n
The Scottish Government has been exploring having the country host the Tour de France grand depart for 17 years.<\/p>\n
Culture and Communities Committee convener and Labour councillor Margaret Arma Graham said: \u201cTime is now of the essence with signing, we do really need to make a decision today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now very clear from the discussions we\u2019ve had with regard to the commitment to funding and underwriting costs, et cetera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very glad that there\u2019s going to be such an emphasis on a sporting event in the city, sometimes these are not always a high priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cCycling in general will get a boost from something so famous coming here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cllr Marion-Cameron added: \u201cIt\u2019s also good to hear \u2013 because this isn\u2019t always the case \u2013 that Edinburgh is getting the best deal out of all the local authorities from the Scottish Government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some community benefits that may come from the agreement were revealed at the meeting, including free bikes for children and cycling lessons for young people.<\/p>\n
An amendment from\u00a0 council\u2019s Green group committing officers to work and make sure that the Tour de France organisers delivered them was also agreed.<\/p>\n
But councillors expressed criticism towards city officers for how the process of coordinating the hosting of the event has been handled.<\/p>\n
Labour councillor Lesley Marion-Cameron asked officers: \u201cI am really surprised that we are posing questions that I think we ought to have known the answers to before now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, we have no finance officer here, we have no legal officer present, and there may be questions that relate to aspects in the contract and in response to policy that we\u2019ve heard other colleagues raise.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd also, apart from Mr Rose, we have no senior officer in the room here to assist and advise the convener on such aspects. And I just wondered why that was?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gareth Barwell, executive director of place, who attended remotely, said he had misread his diary, and thought the meeting was to be held only on Microsoft Teams.<\/p>\n
He continued to say that the agreement councillors were being asked to agree with had been reviewed by the council\u2019s legal team.<\/p>\n
Conservative councillor Christopher Cowdy asked: \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of criticism about the process of the decision making\u00a0to get the Tour de France here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised that there seemed to be no awareness from the officers about the contents of the briefing yesterday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it just gives this ongoing theme about how seriously the officers are taking the decision making\u00a0process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do we not have more senior officers in this room here? There are five councillors here, and Mr Rose \u2013 thank you very much for coming \u2013 but nobody else.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it just really does make me think that this is not being taken as seriously as it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Barwell replied: \u201cI can reassure you, I think the amount of committee time that we\u2019ve been given to this report shows that the council is taking this seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can assure you officers are taking it seriously. My view is that [the briefing] was a political discussion. My view was that there was no need for officers to be there, it was a meeting for politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent months, concerns have been raised over the way discussions about the city hosting the event have been handled.<\/p>\n
Council officers wrongly told councillors that political group leaders had backed the city hosting the event during discussions in October.<\/p>\n
The group leaders instead say they were supportive of officers exploring it more, but that they had not expressly supported the decision at that time.<\/p>\n
A bid by the city\u2019s SNP group to ensure funding for the event came from a part of the city\u2019s upcoming visitor levy that covers \u2018destination and visitor management\u2019 was beaten back.<\/p>\n
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n