The L'Etape bike race is facing another roadblock with Shoalhaven City Council voting unanimously to discourage it from being held later this year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The resolution was put forward by Councillor Greg Watson after a council report was tabled to discuss the traffic impacts of the November 28 event.
Citing impacts on local business, residential properties and COVID-19, Shoalhaven councillors agreed to support Cr Watson's resolution which also requested the support of Kiama MP Gareth Ward in opposing the bike race.
"I don't think we should be encouraging events like this until we get COVID under control [and] I've got ... reservations whether we should be severely inconveniencing businesses and private individuals," said Cr Watson.
The report's recommendations, which were not carried by the council, asked to acknowledge the key potential traffic impacts and to provide in-principle support for the event following consideration of the proposed traffic impacts.
The recommendations were intended to maximise the council's influence in addressing traffic impacts.
In June, L'Etape Australia put their shorter Ride component on hold because of the impact it would have on local communities.
Before that, both the shorter 80km Ride and 136km Race cycling events had their dates pushed to Sunday, November 28 after wet weather caused organisers to postpone in March.
At the meeting, Shoalhaven mayor Amanda Findley asked the director of city services Paul Keech if the bike race organisers would "bowl over the top" of Shoalhaven council if the council decided to join the organisers at the negotiating table.
In response, Mr Keech said his staff would write to the event's organisers to notify them of the council's opposition if that was the decision taken by the council, and from there the state could end up taking over traffic management.
"Therefore possibly taking it out of the hands of the Shoalhaven but at the end of the day I think it's important to make decisions about what we think," said Mr Keech.
Councillor Nina Digiglio said Destination NSW, who partnered with the event, "didn't consult with councillors".
"They lumped it on the community. The whole thing just tastes nasty," she said.
Councillor Mitchell Pakes said the message to the community that the council disapproved of the event outweighed any possible leverage if the report's recommendations were carried.
This was because, as Mr Pakes said, it would be likely the event's organisers would simply "steamroll" the council anyway as most of the roads on the route were state-owned.
Councillor Bob Proudfoot said allowing the bike race to go ahead would be a "massive gamble".
"Inviting large numbers of people to the Shoalhaven is a massive risk and we ought to be saying this is just too soon, too quick, and take a step back. We want to keep our people safe," he said.