Questions surround the way community engagement and consultation occurred at the hands of the event's organiser, Lateral Events.

The L'Étape bike race is a spin-off of the Tour de France and is organised by Lateral Event Management with support from Tour de France, SBS and Destination NSW.

According to section 5.3.4 of Transport for NSW's (TfNSW) guide to the delegation to councils for the regulation of traffic, the onus of public consultation about traffic disruptions from events like the L'Étape bike race falls on councils.

The guideline also confirms the responsibility of public consultation does not fall on the Local Traffic Committee who consists of representatives from TfNSW, NSW Police, Shoalhaven City Council and the Local State Member of Parliament and provides technical advice to council.

However, a spokesperson for Kiama Council said public notification of the traffic impacts of the L'Étape bike race is the responsibility of Lateral Events, the organisers.

Kiama council, who will host the event, encouraged residents and businesses to contact the organisers to discuss their needs.

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TfNSW's guide does not stipulate whether councils should allow private event organisers to conduct public engagement about traffic disruptions and it does not answer if this situation is an abdication of responsibility.

But, it is clear that it is the responsibility of council to make sure public consultation is conducted effectively.

According to emails obtained by the South Coast Register, The Berry Forum community group was not effectively notified about traffic impacts by L'Étape organisers until mid December, despite the organiser's claim community consultation started in March 2020.

The community consultative body for the Berry region acts as a conduit for council to reach out to the community and receive feedback.

Kiama Council and Destination Kiama are sponsors of the event, according to a spokesperson from Kiama Council.

However, Lateral Events Head of Sport Florent Malézieux rejected the notion that councils paid a fee to the event's organisers.

Mr Malézieux said that's the way it works in the Tour de France "but we don't charge the local council here in Australia".

Shoalhaven Councillor John Wells said he has been enlivened to a number of concerns by businesses, wedding venues and community groups.

"I don't know that the Shoalhaven District Cricket Association was consulted, some of their junior grand finals and finals will be played on that weekend," Cr wells said.

"So to what extent the traffic arrangements took those into account, I'm not sure.

"You need to remember this is a private event that's been run under license by the Tour de France. L'Étape is responsible for community consultation and engagement.

"We've offered to L'Étape the services of our Tourism Manager to act as a liaison between the L'Étape organisation and council."

The event will be held three times with another one planned for December and again in 2022. Past events took place on the Snowy Mountains. A race on the South Coast was supposed to happen in March 2020 but it was postponed because of COVID.

Cr Wells said the event does come with problems "and to the extent that those problems have been resolved, [he] would have hoped a better job could have been done".

"Particularly as this event was supposed to be held many months ago and they've had additional time to get things sorted.

"I understand there was a wedding in the Valley that could have been impacted.

"I think the organiser has been talking to the bride and groom about giving some flexibility on arrival and departure times.

"And the same as the golf event that is being held at Shoalhaven Heads.

"I just hope everything works out for the best in the end."

Although Kiama is hosting the event with the start and finish lines falling in Kiama Council's local government area, Cr Wells thinks the event will be so big travellers will spread across the region.

Mr Malézieux said he expects the race to generate more money for the local economy than past events but until the event happens, it is impossible to say how much money will be made.

"In the previous editions of the event we have generated an average of $2.5 million in direct expenditure in the local economy, which means transport, accommodation, food and activities spent on local businesses," he said.

According to Mr Malézieux, Nowra and Bomaderry are not the most impacted towns.

"The highway is never closed," he said.

"We will even stop the riders in Bomaderry from crossing the highway so priority will be given to traffic instead of being given to riders which is actually against the DNA of L'Étape.

"Normally L'Étape operates on fully closed roads.

"There will be police, traffic marshals and volunteers at [the Cambewarra Road/ Princes Hwy/ Moss Vale Road] roundabout so the traffic is not interrupted until there is a big enough group of riders.

"I would say 30 to 40 riders - once the riders are all together, we stop the traffic for 30 seconds, we let the riders cross the roundabout, then we reopen traffic.

"The impact to traffic is going to be negligible. It is going to be less than stops to traffic when there is roadwork."

A spokesperson from Kiama Council said organisers will need to apply for a new Road Occupation Permit to be reviewed by the Kiama Local Traffic Committee for their proposed event in December.