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A small price for a top gig
It brought thousands of people into Preston city centre and created an electric atmosphere as people lined the streets to see it - but the cost of bringing the Olympic torch to the city was minimal.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed that Preston Council spent just £12,943.96 on allowing the torch to pass through the city on the run up to the games in the summer.
The Olympic Torch came to the Preston on June 23 and an estimated 10,000 entered into the Olympic spirit to the flame.
A breakdown of the spend by Preston Council largely relates to traffic management with £9,490.50 being spent on that area of hosting the event.
The council had budgeted £12,961.33 - so was in fact £17.37 under budget.
Whilst the majority of stewards at the event were volunteers £763.20 was spent on a more experienced students to help deal with traffic management issues.
Other costs were for radios, printing, a leaflet drop and the removal and reinstatement of bollards.
£248.57 was spend on radios, ear pieces and a repeater.
£198.00 was spent on four first aiders.
£375 was spent on printing,and £225 on a leaflet drop.
Further costs included £192 spent on a van, £50 on staff transport and £340 on bollard removal and reinstatement.
Coun Peter Rankin, Leader of Preston City Council, said: “The torch relay event was fantastic for the city with over 10,000 people coming out to enjoy the day.
“It was a once in a lifetime experience so it was important that the event was a huge success which is certainly proved to be.
“It set the tone for what was a fantastic summer for the city with the success of our Olympians and Paralympians and of course, Preston Guild.”
As previously reported by the Evening Post the cost of bringing the torch to Wyre was more than £18,000.
The cost of staging the event was revealed at a cabinet meeting.
But initial estimates were that it would cost more than that amount.
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Weather for Preston
Saturday 18 May 2013
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