The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Cycle event may not return to the county after next year.

Surrey County Council will take a decision on the future of the race next week, but a report suggests councillors will decide to stop supporting the event in favour of more community-led sporting events.

Next year’s event has already been agreed to go ahead on a reduced scale, with only four miles passing through Surrey.
A consultation carried out by the council showed balanced views on the event, but revealed a large proportion of people were strongly opposed to it.

Denise Turner-Stewart, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities said:
“We are committed to encouraging cleaner, greener travel and recognise the health and well-being benefits from all kinds of sport including walking and cycling. We are actively seeking new opportunities within Surrey to encourage all sorts of people to get out and about on their bikes. The recommendations in the paper were not easy to make, and we held off making this decision until we had exhausted all available options to try to make the event work for our residents.

However, the ethos of the smaller event; focusing on inspiring the take-up of cycling by women, families, and Wheels for All, more closely aligns to the Council’s objectives to encourage cycling for everyday journeys. Although we can no longer support the larger closed road event, we remain open minded to hosting less disruptive, smaller family focused events in future years.”

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