A village’s hopes of creating an eye-catching artistic display for next year's Tour de France are hanging by a thread.

Pool-in-Wharfedale has been working for months towards giving the world's top cyclists a warm welcome by positioning a series of large customised banners, designed by local schoolchildren, along the route.

But the organisers have been left facing a funding black hole after hearing that their application for money from a Grand Depart cultural festival pot had been unsuccessful.

Project co-leader and Pool Parish Councillor Richard Parker is hopeful the initiative can continue but only if others come forward to support it.

He said: “We’re going to do everything we can to keep the venture alive. We need to find alternative sources of funding and we need to be as creative as we can about that.”