North West 200 set for go-ahead in 2023 after Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council agrees to raise financial support to £275,000

Councillors voted to provide the additional funding at a meeting on Monday evening, which will raise the local authority’s total contribution of financial and in-kind support next year to £275,000.

In August, NW200 Event Consultant Mervyn Whyte said increased support from council was crucial for the 2023 meeting and warned Northern Ireland’s biggest motorcycle race was at a “crossroads”.

The Limavady man said there was a “huge question mark” over the event, which went ahead in May for the first time since 2019 after successive cancellations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Whyte, who will be 73 next May, also sought the appointment of an event manager “to take over the development of the race and plan for the next five to ten years”, but his request was turned down.

Giving a presentation to councillors in August on behalf of Coleraine and District Motor Club, he outlined the benefits of the North West 200 to the local economy, which provided an approximate injection of £16m to the area this year.

“Early indications from our research, with over 200,000 people during race week, is showing an economic benefit roughly in the region of about £16m to the area itself,” Whyte said.

“That survey mirrors the survey that was carried out by Sheffield Hallam (University) back in 2017 and at that stage they estimated roughly in the region of £13million.”

At Monday’s meeting, DUP councillor John McAuley said he felt it was “wrong” to expect council alone to effectively rescue the North West 200, but accepted it was impossible to ignore the value of the event to the local economy.

“I understand that this event gets a lot of support but equally, no doubt whatever we decide will also be criticised. You can’t do right for wrong,” he said.

“However, the reality is that this event has the biggest income, which has already been publicly acknowledged as £16million, to the economy.

“So for us as a council it would be wrong not to try and help in some way, even though it does need to be put on record that we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“To lay the full responsibility on whether the North West 200 goes ahead or not at the council’s doorstep I personally think is wrong,” he added.

“We are where we are and at this stage I am going to make a proposal in the hope that it helps secure the 2023 event and also paves the way for the North West 200 to become sustainable in its own right so that this doesn’t continue to happen.

“The reality is we can’t continue to just bail out events.”

Earlier this year, a funding package of £800,000 earmarked for the Ulster Grand Prix and North West 200 was not given final approval by Tourism NI. The money was sought by the Revival Racing Motorcycle Club, which includes Phillip McCallen as a director.

A total of 21 councillors voted to provide extra support to the North West 200 in 2023. Eleven voted against the proposal for a partnership with Coleraine and District Motor Club and there were three abstentions.