LONG Sutton will be the only location in the Fens to enjoy a visit from the Olympic torch next year after route organisers chose to snub the district.

The 70-day torch relay, which begins on May 19, will see the Olympic flame visit 1,018 places across Britain but it will not pass through Fenland at all - despite visiting nearby locations including King’s Lynn, Long Sutton and Holbeach.

The torch will stop twice overnight in Cambridgeshire, in Peterborough and Cambridge. But the Peterborough to Norwich route, taking place on July 4, will see it bypass Fenland.

The route has been met with disappointment in the Fens but Whittlesey Councillor Martin Curtis, who chairs Cambridgeshire County Council’s 2012 Olympics member panel, defended the decision of the London Games’ organisers LOCOG.

He said on Twitter: “Torch relay is a logistical nightmare to organise - it can’t go everywhere. Cambs have two overnight stops, some counties have none.”

LOCOG claim the torch will come within 10 miles of 95 per cent of the population. The torch will travel 8,000 miles and will be carried by 8,000 torchbearers.

The final day of its 10-week tour will see it travel down the Thames to the Olympic Park, in time for the opening ceremony on July 27.

Road closures and extra public transport could see the cost of bringing the torch to Cambridgeshire reach as much as �150,000.

How far will you have to travel to see the torch?

Day 47, July 4: Peterborough to Norwich

Peterborough

Market Deeping

Thurlby

Bourne

Spalding

Moulton

Whaplode

Holbeach

Long Sutton

King’s Lynn

South Wootton

West Rudham

East Rudham

Fakenham

Holt

Cromer

Aylesham

Norwich

Day 51, July 8: Cambridge to Luton

Cambridge

St Ives

Huntingdon

Bedford

Cotton End

Letchworth Garden City

Stevenage

Welwyn Garden City

Hatfield

St Albans

Hemel Hempstead

Luton