Preseli MP Stephen Crabb has described the sudden cancellation of the Pembrokeshire Fish Week festival as 'bizarre'.

Mr Crabb was speaking following this week's announcement that Fish week will not go ahead this summer, with Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) putting the decision down to a staff member's ill health.

Food manager Kate Morgan, the event's main organiser, requires time off and PCC has decided to cancel the 2015 event but promised it will return in 2016.

Mr Crabb told the Western Telegraph: “This is a real blow for the county.

Pembrokeshire Fish Week for me, and many other local families, has been a fantastic annual event for many years. I am extremely disappointed at the decision taken by Pembrokeshire County Council to cancel this year’s event.”

“Kate Morgan, has done a fantastic job in making the event the success it is today. She has been a dynamo in organising events for the benefit of local food producers who I am sure will be hugely disappointed by this news.

“I find it bizarre that an organisation as large as Pembrokeshire County Council cannot deliver this very important event for the county. I think local people will be looking for a better explanation about why it has been swift in cancelling an event which puts Pembrokeshire on the map nationally and generates millions for the local economy.”

Assembler Member Paul Davies, added: "I’m extremely disappointed that Pembrokeshire Fish Week is not proceeding this year, given the important contribution that the festival makes to the local economy here in Pembrokeshire.

"It’s a real shame that Pembrokeshire County Council couldn’t find a way to put the festival on this year. I sincerely hope that all options to keep the festival running this year were explored and that next year Pembrokeshire Fish Week will be back with a bang.”

In an email to county councillors earlier this week, PCC Head of Regeneration Martin White said the council was looking at a new way of running the festival.

He wrote: "We feel that to go ahead and try to run with what would be a much scaled-down festival could be very damaging to the its current profile and detrimental to its future, plus of course disappointing to its attendees.

"However, looking at it positively, we are in the middle of planning a structural change to the festival to move it to a social enterprise model, and a break for one year will give us a great opportunity to move towards this successfully.

"It will give us more time to plan for the new structure, looking at fresh ideas and at income streams which can assist in the growth and sustainability of the festival, and allow us to come back revitalised and better in 2016."