LAST summer's beach polo championship at Sandbanks was worth an estimated £365,851 in income to Poole.

This premier event is said to have created "a buzz of anticipation" among residents and the business community, similar to that of the Bournemouth Air Festival.

The two-day British Beach Polo Championships, held for the first time on the resort's golden sands, attracted up to an estimated 9,000 spectators with 5,000 watching the top class competition from the free view area.

Of the spectators it is estimated that 50 per cent travelled from beyond Poole and Bournemouth and around 1,000 people (25 per cent) stayed in the area.

More than 200 people were employed by the organisers during the event, 80 per cent of whom were local people, and they used local caterers and other firms.

The majority of advertisers and event sponsors, which included the Daily Echo, were local and the event received extensive national and international media coverage on TV and in the press.

An assessment of the benefits says it is difficult to know the exact financial impact as no specific research was commissioned.

Organisers Sandpolo paid the council full price for parking, works and contractors however as it was a trial event, no site rental was charged for the beach.

Agreement has now been reached for the next five years and this year's event on July 10 and 11 will be charged at £1,500 with the council again benefiting from running a Football Focus competition for youngsters in the arena on the Sunday.

Cllr Peter Adams, portfolio holder for leisure, said he thought the value of the publicity outweighed the economic benefit. "This was a cracking success for us. It's the sort of thing we want to build upon," he said.