Furious traders in Cleckheaton say months of planning have been wasted because the Queens' Jubilee Baton relay is to bypass the town centre.

Spenborough Chamber of Trade and Commerce had formed a Jubilee Committee to organise celebrations and arranged to have children lining Bradford Road with balloons which would be released into the sky to mark the occasion.

It was expected the baton carrier would run past the shops to a formal reception in the town hall to be met by councillors, Spen MP Mike Wood and other dignitaries.

But president of the Chamber of Trade, Keith Joplin, has learned that the relay will effectively bypass the town - one of 500 in the UK to have been chosen - on July 4.

"When it comes to Cleckheaton, it will visit Lion Confectionery which is owned by Cadbury/Schweppes which is putting a lot of money into the Commonwealth Games," said Mr Joplin. "But it is not actually going to go through the town."

He said that, according to organisers, the baton would be brought down Hightown Road, to Lions Confectionery in South Parade, along Scott Lane, and on to Bradford.

"When I rang up to voice my objections, I was told by one of the organisers that the route was already on the hard drive and couldn't be changed," said Mr Joplin.

"We would like the baton to spend an hour in Cleckheaton - going down Westgate, to the Memorial Park Traffic lights and left into the town centre. We would like them to stop for a cup of tea at the town hall and get the traders involved.

"If the route is not changed, it will miss the town completely. I made the point that surely hard drives could be changed, because it was such an important occasion for us."

Councillor Ann Raistrick (Lib Dem, Cleckheaton) said she was "extremely disappointed" at the news.

"We were certainly led to believe when they said it would go into Cleckheaton that that was literally what they meant," she said.

"But it is going to bypass the main town centre. The route it is to take doesn't lend itself to the celebrations we had planned at all. We are going to do what we can to try to influence the route planners."

She said the alternative route was steep, had bad visibility at the junction with Whitcliffe Road and was not suitable for a cavalcade.

"We had linked this event in with the Folk Festival and could have potentially had thousands of people lining the street," said Coun Raistrick.

"I have no idea where this route has come from, because they certainly never consulted anyone on the Council or the town centre manager about it."

No-one at the Queen's Jubilee Baton Relay was available for comment.