In just over a week West Sussex is set to host Velo South, marketed to residents as a 100-mile closed road event that will see 15,000 cyclists take to our streets. Very often these sorts of events bolster local tourism and the economy. Unfortunately, Velo South has had a bumpy ride with many people feeling there has been poor communication, and that organisers haven’t managed to mitigate the impact of road closures for residents and businesses. Some people also think these issues could have been avoided if sufficient consultations took place before decisions were made.
I have made enquiries with West Sussex County Council that have focused primarily on how CSM, the event organiser, can achieve a greater balance between mitigating the impact on residents who want to go about their daily lives and the expectation of the cyclists due to tour our beautiful area. Some residents are challenging the road closures, which I hope will be carefully considered, I think it is reasonable that they looked into by the Council and CSM, as some stretches of roads are due to be closed for more than 8 hours.
Whilst the direct impact to residents of the road closures is clear, there are wider implications which may not have been fully considered. For example, I have heard from a number of constituents that hotels are losing bookings, parties are being cancelled and church services interrupted because access roads are blocked. A local cabby even told me he was set to lose £400 in bookings. These kinds of stories are the opposite of what we would expect from an event that draws in visitors.
Moving forward I hope we manage to host cycling events as there are real benefits to encouraging cycling such as improving health and wellbeing, and in the long run, reducing carbon emissions. Big events like these can of course yield benefits for local businesses and their communities, but to achieve this communication is key. It can be done as there are around 2,500 registered cycle races across the UK, but the reality is, no local event is a success without the backing of the locals themselves.