THE man who brought the Tour de France to Yorkshire is now being asked to bring a £5m event to Bradford.

Sir Gary Verity was in the city today to receive its official bid to host the Government-funded Great Exhibition of the North, planned for 2018.

Other towns and cities vying to host the event include Newcastle-Gateshead, Harrogate and Halifax.

Sir Gary will assess the bids over the summer and make a recommendation to the Government about which northern town or city should host the event, designed to showcase the best of art and design in the North of England.

Today, he visited the National Media Museum, which would be the anchor venue if Bradford wins the bid.

There, he was shown a video of people in cities across the North sharing what they think make it what it is, before a group of schoolchildren from Bowling Park Primary presented him with the city’s bid in a gift box.

The Great Exhibition of the North forms part of Chancellor George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse project.

Sir Gary drew laughter as he made a passing reference to the uncertainty over the country’s leadership, saying: “A Government minister in October, I’m not quite sure who, will come and announce wherever the Great Exhibition of the North will be.”

He said he was expecting eight bids in total, four from each side of the Pennines.

Sir Gary told the Telegraph & Argus that whichever place was chosen, the event would be a great opportunity to discover some of the innovative projects happening across the North of England and bring them to the public’s attention.

He said: “We are not sometimes that great about shouting about our successes. It would be great to unearth a good few of the fantastic things that are happening in the North, across art, culture and design, and showcase those to people.”

Bradford Council has put together the city’s bid, with help from organisations such as the Media Museum and support from notable local stars like Dynamo and the Brownlee brothers.

Bradford Council’s leader, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, said: “There has been a lot of work which has gone into this and there have been some great ideas from people.”

She said Bradford could showcase the “dynamism” of its young population as well as the beauty of the surrounding countryside.

She said: “The quality of life here is so much better than in London, for example, where great countryside is harder to find and further to go.”