HUDDERSFIELD'S entry to this year's Yorkshire in Bloom contest has been scrapped . . . because the town centre is too scruffy.
Horrified town centre managers scrapped the entry after making a last-minute tour.
Competition judges due to come today were told not too bother.
Graffiti and litter were found to be too much of a blight.
The decision is a huge blow for the campaign to build up Huddersfield's prestige.
Alison Campbell, assistant town centre manager, said the plug was pulled because of extensive litter, graffiti and chewing gum.
"I just felt it would be counter productive to even try," she said.
"We were entering in the first place because we were hoping that we would be able to bring things up to scratch.
"But there was litter dropped everywhere and graffiti all over the place."
Ms Campbell said there were more businesses that had taken up the council's offer of a £40 hanging basket and maintenance over the summer.
But the competition involves more than just judging flower arrangements.
It focuses on the general appearance of a town in relation to shop fronts, litter and buildings.
Ms Campbell blasted the careless attitude of people who were happy to drop litter in the street, rather than hang on to it for a few minutes until they reached a bin.
"It is the general public that has not got any pride in where they live.
"They throw litter two feet away from a bin, spit chewing gum out on the pavement and think they have the right to paint their name everywhere they go and pick plants in public containers.
"We do what we can but it is an uphill struggle."
Examiner gardening correspondent Graham Porter, who is on the Huddersfield in Bloom committee, was today saddened at the situation the town was in.
"I think it is disgusting," he said. "Not the decision to pull out of Yorkshire in Bloom, but the lack of commitment on the part of the local authority to the visual environment in Huddersfield.
"This decision may act as a catalyst to make our political masters wake up."
