COUNCILLORS in Monmouthshire will be supporting next year’s Velothon.

After a lengthy debate in which councillors examined feedback from this year’s event at the Economy and Development Select Committee, it was confirmed that the support will continue for the 2017 event.

This year’s Velothon saw more than 12,000 professional and amateur cyclists take to a 140km track, starting and finishing in Cardiff and passing through areas in Monmouthshire.

One major concern raised at the meeting was whether the Velothon would specifically benefit Monmouthshire, and if so, in what ways would it benefit the economy of the county.

Cllr John Prosser, a member of the economy and development select committee, said: “I think the events team and the tourism and the whole organisation is coming together and growing. We’re improving on our status.

“But in what way will constituents in Monmouthshire benefit from the Velothon?”

This concern was highlighted in the report previously, and head of community and delivery Debra Hill-Howells said that on the day itself Cardiff would benefit the most as participants go there to sign up and the event starts from there and also finishes.

However Ms Hill-Howells did say that even though Monmouthshire might not benefit on the day itself, many people come to visit beforehand to practice.

“We do know that we get a lot of cyclists that come through practicing the route and they will stop in Monmouthshire businesses to actually go and have a break and help themselves to refreshments,” she said.

“We’ve also had stories of people coming back to stay in Monmouthshire because they’ve enjoyed it so much when they were here.

“We have anecdotal evidence but what we don’t have at the moment is that tangible hard evidence to confirm the economic benefits that will arise from us hosting that event,” she added.

Bob Greenland, cabinet member for innovation, enterprise and leisure, said that getting anything other than anecdotal evidence about benefits of the returning Velothon would be unlikely, and also quite difficult.

He said: “It is going to be incredible difficult to have anything other than anecdotal evidence about people coming back because of the Velothon.

“I have plenty of anecdotal evidence that points to benefits for the county in economic terms.

"If you go into Usk and ask one of the leading hotels who complained about lack of business the day the Velothon went through, but they will tell you they get an enormous amount of business because of cyclists stopping off.”

“I have absolutely no doubt that cycling is of benefit for many reasons in this county, I do acknowledge it does give some problems and not everybody likes it,” he added.