An Oxenhope pigeon keeper has applied for planning permission to build a replacement loft, which he says will improve the look of the area in time for next year’s Tour De France.

Oxenhope and its surrounding country lanes will be the backdrop for the world’s biggest annual sporting event when Le Tour travels through the area on July 6, 2014.

One of the routes will be down Hebden Bridge Road, where the cyclists, and all the associated TV cameras and media, will pass by the pigeon loft of T. Tate. He admits the building is currently an eyesore, and the race has been a “big motivation” for him to build a replacement loft.

His application says: “The existing building is old and in a poor state, as a result of this it forms an eyesore on this otherwise picturesque road leading into Oxenhope. Hebden Bridge Road also forms part of the route for the Yorkshire stage of the Tour de France 2014 and this is a big motivation for the land owner to create a more fitting site frontage for this prestigious and global event. Therefore, the proposed building is located to the rear of the site, away from the road frontage. This allows for the road frontage of the site to be landscaped.”