A town centre manager hired to boost trade and tourism in Cleckheaton has been removed from his post after just eight months in the job.

David Adams was told to quit by the town's chamber of commerce which was unhappy with his progress.

But Mr Adams said today he was proud of his record and accused the chamber of making unrealistic demands.

He said: "I'm disappointed that I could not meet the short-term aims of the chamber but it appears they wanted miracles.

"It takes time to develop contacts and when I signed a fixed-term one-year contract, which could be extended to two years subject to funding, I expected them to appreciate it would take about that long to show positive improvements."

Mr Adams was hired by Spenborough Chamber of Trade and Commerce with matched-funding from Kirklees Council and Calderdale and Kirklees TEC.

His remit was to spearhead Spenborough's Heartbeat campaign, which aims to attract shoppers and tourists to the area, and to introduce a conference and exhibition centre, a tourist office and museum.

Chamber vice-president Andrew Coomber said the committee was not happy with progress and did not believe Mr Adams would deliver the Heartbeat objectives.

He said: "It's not so much how much he achieved but the direction he took. We wanted to see more events and he didn't attract enough sponsorship for the campaign which he was told he would need to do from the start."

But Mr Adams said he had lodged a £120,000 bid for closed-circuit TV for Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike, had brought in money for landscaping improvements and a handbook for Cleckheaton, and had helped in negotiations for the town's Providence Place Chapel - which could eventually include conference facilities. He said he was also working to bring about improvements to Cleckheaton bus station and was behind a pancake race and tidy trader contest.

Kirklees councillor Gordon North, chairman of the Spen Valley Working Party and member of the Council's policy board which agreed to fund Mr Adams's post, said the chamber's expectations were too high.

He said: "David brought forward a lot of good ideas but it became clear at a fairly early stage that the chamber's expectations were unrealistic. Kirklees took a back seat but we will want to be included in finding his replacement."

Calderdale and Kirklees TEC spokesman Gary Rae said if Mr Adams's employer was unhappy with his progress it was right to terminate his contract.

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