With exactly a year to go until the Tour de France comes to the area, Scottish Borders Council has announced plans for a funding scheme to help communities get involved and deliver a long-term legacy from the event.
A Community Grand Départ Activation Fund will support communities and businesses to deliver inclusive, locally distinctive cycling activities linked to the Tour de France – boosting participation, celebrating local identity, strengthening communities, supporting tourism, and promoting health and wellbeing.
The grant scheme will launch shortly to help communities maximise the benefits of the Tour coming to the region.
Councillor Euan Jardine, leader of Scottish Borders Council, said: “At our engagement events in May lots of communities and local organisations came forward with great ideas and plans to celebrate and get involved in the Borders hosting the Tour de France.
“It is great that many people are so engaged already and we are committed to working alongside them to make the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity, delivering not only an amazing experience for our communities and visitors but a long-term legacy.
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“This funding will support those efforts and will be open to applications soon.
“With two-thirds of Stage 1 in the Scottish Borders, and so many communities along our part of the route, there are lots of opportunities and I’d urge people to get their thinking caps on and we’ll do what we can to help make it all possible.
“It is quite incredible to think that this time next year we’ll have hundreds of thousands of people stretched along more than 100km of road in the Scottish Borders watching the world’s best road cyclists competing for the iconic yellow jersey.”
After departing Edinburgh, Stage 1 will head south to Innerleithen, then on to Galashiels and Melrose.
The route then takes the riders to the edge of Selkirk and on to Hawick and Newcastleton towards the stage finish in Carlisle. More route details will be revealed in the autumn.
The Tour de France is broadcast in over 190 countries, with an estimated global television audience of 3.5-4 billion people across the three-week race. At least 12million people watch the race annually at the roadside.
If you want to be directly involved in helping deliver the event, the national JOY Makers volunteering programme is open for applications.
For those aged 16-25, there’s also the opportunity to join the Readiness to Work programme to help with training and skill development. Find out more at www.letourgb.com/volunteer
Scottish Borders Council’s investment to bring the event to the area is up to £583,500, split across two financial years, with external funding support being sought to reduce the overall council contribution.
It is estimated that there will be an incredibly positive return on the council’s investment and a valuable long-term legacy. The Scottish Government has invested more than £9million to bring the event to Scotland for the first time.
For context, the council invested £147,000 to host the first stage of the 2024 Tour of Britain Men, which generated an economic impact of almost £2.5million to the area.
Find more about the Tour de France coming to the Scottish Borders, including updated frequently asked questions, at www.scotborders.gov.uk/tourdefrance
