NW200: Entrance fee for NW200?

It is feared that Northern Ireland Tourist Board funding for supporting such events could be cut.

The Tourist board believes it could have only 700,000 available for grants, compared to 1.6m for the current year.

Mr White said that organisers of the race had been liaising with MLAs about introducing entrance fees for a number of years.

However he warned of difficulties with the proposal.

He said: "It's the whole logistics and planning to ensure residents are not kept from their homes.

"It's not the easiest managed - hopefully in the future that will come about fairly quickly."

He said that it was currently unclear whether the budget for the event would be cut, but stressed that it had been a major net contributor to the NI economy.

"This year it brought 5m into the local economy and 8m to the Northern Ireland economy.

"And for every pound spent there has been a return of something like 33.

"I have no doubt that if it is going to be cut back, the event will have little growth in future years. It probably will stagnate and fall away."

The NITB has said it would like more than its projection of 700,000 but will have to await the outcome of the executive budget negotiations.

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