Sir, – On behalf of Hawes & High Abbotside Parish Council I wish to apologise to Richard Johnson, owner of Stags Fell over which the road to the Buttertubs Pass runs.

Our press report of our May meeting suggested that he had refused permission for a piece of road art – a cycle sculpture – to be temporarily anchored on Stags Fell.

This is one of the many decorations to Hawes and High Abbotside that the local community is providing to greet the Tour de France.

This was entirely wrong and the result of confusion with another landowner when we were dealing with a piece of land elsewhere. Richard Johnson when approached could not have been more helpful and we received his permission to go ahead within four days of our request to him.

We invite your readers to visit Hawes and High Abbotside ahead of the bike race to view the fabulous decorations our wonderful community is staging to provide the warmest welcome to the race competitors and the vast number of spectators expected to arrive to watch the peloton pass through the two parishes.

There are well over 200 hanging baskets featuring red and white flowers, the polka dot colours accorded to the King of the Mountains race leader and appropriate at the start of the climb to the star attraction of the Grand Depart – the Buttertubs Pass.

It is a sight to behold and we here in Hawes and High Abbotside are very proud of what we have achieved, all on the back of many hours and days of their free time donated by our brigade of volunteers.

Again our apologies then that a misunderstanding around identity of landowners should slightly cloud all this. The cycle sculpture will be an unforgettable landmark for competitors as they struggle with the ascent to the Buttertubs summit. Rather them than me.

JOHN BLACKIE Chair, Hawes & High Abbotside Parish Council