IT will not be long now before that drug-riddled sporting fest also known as the Tour de France Grand Depart happens upon Broadacres.

For the record, I was not one of Ryedale’s district councillors who made their own Grand Depart (from common sense) when they opted to dole out £10,000 of your money to the organisers of a bike race.

When I protested that this bunch of Lycra-clad pedlars would not be chafing their buttocks within spitting distance of Ryedale, I was told by one hitherto respected councillor that the other councils in North Yorkshire would think it was unfair if Ryedale did not contribute. So be it.

When I protested that some members of the council were hell bent on chucking money at a sport where the cyclist with the best pharmacist often triumphed over the cyclist with the best technique, the leader of the council justified giving away your money by casually informing me that “there is drug abuse in all sports”, so does that makes it alright then?

No doubt the road surfaces upon which the world’ s cycling elite will soon commence battle will have been bikini-lined to perfection in order to provide the smoothest of rides, while the poor people of Ryedale will be compelled to continue their daily battle with potholes.

Should perchance a cluster of these cyclists take a wrong turn into Church Street, Norton, there is a good chance that any attempt to gain the Yellow Jersey would result in a nasty case of gravel rash.

My point being that, if some councillors feel the need to spend thousands of pounds of our money on improving the roads in North Yorkshire, they should be spending it in Ryedale.

Councillor Peter Walker, Independent member for Norton East, Ryedale District Council