Jan Fletcher says she remains "too passionate" about Leeds to let her varied business interests divert her from offering her talents to the city's cause.

The former Veuve Cliquot British Businesswoman of the Year last week announced her decision to step down from the board of the city's destination marketing organisation after more than four years.

Jan, who won an OBE in 1997 for her services to industry, cited the need to concentrate on her business interests.

But in an exclusive interview she told the YEP: "I'm not leaving it. There's no way. I am too passionate and involved in the city to leave it behind.

"I'm fiercely proud of Yorkshire and Leeds. I'll still be there giving it my utmost support and continuing to shout for Leeds all over the world and the region."

Looking back on her tenure, she says: "We have achieved an awful lot in a short space of time, albeit the public can't always see the hard work that is going on behind the scenes.

"We have built up our brand – Leeds. Live It. Love It. – which is very visible now.

"A lot of the businesses and professionals are using it across the city, as are the universities.

"Everyone across the city seems to have bought into the branding. It is something we should all be proud of."

She says any suggestion her departure is due to a potential conflict of interests – a possible Sweet Street site for the Leeds arena is on the doorstep of her City One development project – is untrue.

She said: "If you are in business, you occasionally have conflicts of interest. As long as you deal with them honestly and with integrity, and you declare your interest, then that's fair. I haven't stepped down because of that at all."

"Honesty and integrity is vitally important and it's something that is number one on my list."

Of the arena plan itself, she says: "It is desperately needed and it will be vitally important – not only for the local community and for Yorkshire, but also to bring international people and events into the city.

"It needs to be a proper entertainment complex offering lots of different things, not just a tin shed that only is there for an odd pop concert or sporting event."

nigel.scott@ypn.co.uk

l SELLING Leeds to the World – read what some of the city's highest profile business people have to say about Leeds' ambitions to move up a league in Wednesday's YEP Business supplement.