THE new face of Skipton town centre has a very familiar voice!

Former managing director and presenter of Fresh Radio Dave Parker has taken over as Skipton's town centre manger.

He steps into the shoes of Chris Aldred - the first person to hold the post - who has moved on to become the administrator at Bradford Cathedral.

Mr Parker, who was at the Skipton-based radio station for three years, is no stranger to working in local government.

He spent 20 years working for his hometown local authority, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, and during that time worked in press and public relations and management services.

Mr Parker came to Skipton after working at Ridings FM and his decision to apply for the role of town centre manager stemmed from a desire to remain in the Dales and his love of local affairs.

He said: "I didn't want to leave the area. I've really enjoyed my time here and this is a great opportunity to stay and have a significant involvement in the community, just with a different angle."

Mr Parker, who lives in the town, added: "The people are great, the area is great and you are only 30 seconds away from the scenery.

"The pace of life is different when you've lived in a city for a long time."

For the past few years, Mr Parker has been involved in the town's Medieval Festival and also Skipton Chamber of Trade.

He is hoping to build on the contacts he has already made to enable him to become a lynchpin for local organisations.

Mr Parker, who will be based at the Skipton Town Council offices above Barclays Bank, on the High Street, said: "I have been in the job four days and I have already chaired about ten meetings."

His predecessor, Mr Aldred, will be working with him one day a week to ensure that the forthcoming Sheep Day and Skipton Festival of Transport go off without a hiccup.

Mr Parker attended his first local event - the Skipton Waterways Festival - at the weekend. He said: "Chris did some fantastic work and it is difficult coming into a new role, which Chris did right from the beginning and needed to build up.

"It's quite daunting but, hopefully, I can stamp my own style on things. My style is to get involved with people and work well with people."

He added that he was still getting to grips with his new job - which is funded solely by Skipton Town Council.

But, unlike his predecessor, he will not be overseeing Skipton market.

He said: "It's about making sure we can keep attracting people to come and visit the place.

"It's important businesses continue to thrive and we need to look at safety. There's some great initiatives like Radio Link."

Skipton Town Council chief officer Lis Moore, who is Mr Parker's manager, said: "We had some good candidates but Dave was absolutely outstanding.

"He's going to be a great asset to the team. Chris did a fantastic job and Dave will build on what he has done."