Not such a sweet spot!

By Carole Dennett Feb 5, 2023

In the week that the Isle of Wight Council announced a council tax increase of 4.99 per cent, and swingeing cuts to services, it has come to light that officers have not even asked the organisers of the cancelled Tour of Britain event, Sweetspot Ltd, if they will return the £350,000 of public money paid out to hold the race on the Island.

The final leg of the national cycle event was due to take place on September 10 last year, in a high-octane race from Ryde to The Needles. However, along with two other stages, it was abruptly cancelled due to the death of HM the Queen, two days earlier.

Organisers claimed they had no choice other than to call off the event, because of the need to reallocate police resources. However, four months later there has been no discussion about returning the money paid, with the parties so far only talking about the possibility of future events being staged at a discounted price.

The information came to light after the IW Observer asked, whether the council was aware that the organisers had no insurance cover in place to cover the death of Her Majesty, how much sponsorship had been raised and how much officer time had been spent on the project.

We were told it “has been inappropriate to request any refunds at this stage” as the council has “an excellent working relationship” with Sweetspot and discussions are ongoing about possible future ventures. Officers in the Neighbourhood Team said that when the contract was signed “HM The Queen was in excellent health”. However, only £60,000 of the external sponsorship was raised, with £30,000 of ‘in-kind’ funding. When the contract was signed by the previous Conservative administration it was envisaged that the full £350,000 would be recovered from commercial organisations keen to be associated with the high-profile event. No answers were forthcoming about insurance or officer time spent in organising it.

In any event, asking for a refund may prove futile, as records at Companies House show that Sweetspot had less than £165,000 of assets in September 2021, with no accounts yet filed for last year.

Tory group leader, Councillor Joe Robertson, a member of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee, has asked a number of questions about money that could be recovered under the aborted contract. He said: “I am seriously concerned that the council hasn’t even sought to recover any of the money that it spent on a contract that was then cancelled.
“This is particularly worrying at a time when the council is proposing so many cuts to services and increasing parking charges and other necessities for hard-pressed Islanders.

“The council should be vigorously pursuing any possible money that it owed. I will be following this up at the next scrutiny meeting.”

Cllr Julie Jones-Evans, the cabinet member responsible for regeneration and tourism said: “The Cabinet are waiting for an options paper as to how best move forward. At the moment we are investigating hosting another stage in the future so we can get the return on our investment for the public purse and the Island’s economy. The wider benefits were estimated at £4m and internationally we embed the island as a cycling and green tourism destination.”