AN OFFICIAL review will be held looking into the way City of York Council handled the 2014 Tour de France.

Last year, Liberal Democrat Councillor Ian Cuthbertson requested a review into how the authority planned, promoted and delivered events surrounding the Tour de France, including the Grand Departy concert at Huntington Stadium, which lost the council £187,000. A decision was made in January to delay any inquiry until after May’s election, and a meeting of the learning and culture policy and scrutiny committee last night decided it should now go ahead.

Speaking to the committee, Cllr Cuthbertson said questions needed to be asked, but the review should be constructive for the authority and must not be a witch hunt.

He said: “I don’t think this is a matter of hunting figures or hanging any person in particular out to dry. I think what’s needed here is for this matter to be discussed in a public forum and properly laid to rest in public so the council can be aware and accept that what has gone wrong has been recognised and won’t happen again.”

The review will also look at health and safety issues brought up around Tour campsites made available for the Tour, provision of large screens at the entertainment hubs, and merchandising which the council is believed to have invested in.

Councillor Janet Looker said the Tour coming to York was a once in a lifetime event, and so unique that elements of it were difficult to predict, but agreed the review should take place. Cllr Looker said: “I never feel blame achieves anything at all except to make people reluctant to try anything and by God, I’m glad we tried this, it was a magnificent day.”

A task force was formed to take on the review, including Cllrs Cuthbertson, Dave Taylor, Margaret Wells and Keith Myers, and the work could take up to a year.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Cuthbertson said: “I’m pleased that the committee has decided to proceed with this proposal and I look forward to working with the members from all parties to complete this review and hope we can produce positive strong recommendations from which lessons will be learned.”