A Silsden councillor has praised churchgoers for their flower-powered Tour de France project.

Silsden Methodist Church is decorating wooden bike shapes with flowers for a display when the cyclists ride past next summer.

Church groups, individuals and families are decorating bikes for a flower festival in the church in the run-up to the race.

Councillor Adrian Naylor, a district and town councillor, suggested the idea could be expanded to involve the whole of Silsden.

He said the project was discussed at the first meeting of a new group formed to co-ordinate Silsden’s involvement in the Tour.

Group members, who include councillors, townspeople and church representatives, talked about how the project could be developed.

He said: “There were suggestions we could get businesses down the High Street to sponsor a bike each and put them in their windows.

“They were asking whether it could become like a scarecrow festival and possibly get the schools to decorate some of the bikes.”

The idea was the brainchild of church member William Jowitt.