A councillor blamed “hateful people” for his decision to step down as chairman of a local committee.

Cllr Steve Tierney stood down last night as chairman of the Wisbech Castle working party after nearly three years.

He said: “A very small handful of people in this town, really hateful people, hate the castle and they particularly hate it because I am chairman of it- that’s just the truth, just the facts.

“As long as I am chairman it will be a reason for attacking the castle and that is not fair on the volunteers.”

Cllr Tierney explained how he became chairman nearly three years ago and he was “very proud” of what had been achieved.

He said that when the town council first took it over from the county council it was in a sorry state of repair.

Gardens were overgrown, paint was peeling from the walls and it seemed it would “take for ever” to bring round.

But he said a team of volunteers had pitched in to carry out both urgent and non-urgent repairs and created an asset of which the town could be proud.

He said over the years the castle had hosted many successful events, including weddings, Halloween nights and ghost nights.

And he had worked to cut the budget, too, and made it a success.

“I will not stop being a volunteer,” he said. “I like their company but I will no longer be the name on tin.”

Whilst he remained as chairman, it offered people reason to attack the castle “and that’s not fair”.

He had every confidence in whoever became chairman would make it better.

“But it is not fair to carry on,” he said.

Town councillor Garry Tibbs was elected chairman.

In May, Cllr Tierney had said how much the castle had been looking forward to a bumper year.

“We had so many bookings,” he posted to the castle Facebook page. “Several booking for huge periods of time; many group and individual bookings. Events for Easter, summer, Rose Fair, school holidays.

“Sadly, the same as everybody else, Covid-19 brought everything to a standstill. We’ve lost many thousands of pounds worth of bookings and we’ve lost the chance to be a vibrant and exciting community venue.”