RYEDALE ratepayers are to pay thousands of pounds towards next year’s Tour de France Grand Depart in Yorkshire.

The district council has agreed to make a £10,000 contribution towards the event’s staging fee, even though the riders will not cross Ryedale’s borders.

District councillors voted to approve the payment, which will come out of the authority’s “unallocated” funds, at meeting on Thursday, July 4, but there was disagreement in the council chamber before the decision.

Coun Luke Ives said: “£10,000 seems like a lot of money to me, and I cannot agree with spending it on an event that does not even come into Ryedale.”

Taxpayers in Ryedale are already funding the event through their council tax payments to North Yorkshire County Council, which is expected to contribute £200,000 to the staging fee, he added, and should not be expected to pay through their Ryedale District Council rates as well.

The money could be better spent closer to home, Coun Peter Walker added, saying it could fund new staff and help lower waiting times for vital housing benefit payments.

Instead, the money is going to repair potholes on roads in Richmond, Coun John Clark said, while roads in Ryedale need repairs and pleas for new cycle routes have gone unanswered.

But council leader Coun Linda Cowling insisted it would be money well spent for Ryedale.

“I happen to think [le Tour] will be a big benefit for Ryedale, not only in 2013 but also in the legacy work. Ryedale is developing a reputation as a centre for cycling, and this will help,” she said.

Le Tour is expected to bring £20million into Yorkshire, Coun Cowling added.

“I am sure some of that will end up in Ryedale.

“We are not an island, we are part of Yorkshire.”

Tourist body Welcome to Yorkshire has asked for financial contributions from all the district councils in North Yorkshire. Harrogate district, which will host the end of the first stage, is expected to put up £90,000 while Hambleton, Scarborough and Selby districts have each been asked to give £10,000.

Refusing to meet the request would be “churlish” and show “sour grapes”, Coun Elizabeth Shields said.