A Council boss has hit back at claims it fails to support Bradford's music scene.

Musician Dean Cavanagh fiercely criticised Bradford Council in a high-profile TV programme about the city.

Dean, who fronts 'techno' band Glamorous Hooligan, spoke out during John Peel's Sounds of the Suburbs show, which was screened by Channel 4 at the weekend.

He claimed he was forced to call a halt to his successful series of Tolerance dance music events because of a lack of Council support.

"I hate to say it, because I love the town and I will always live here, but they're living in the Dark Ages where it comes to entertainment," said Dean, who lives in Clayton.

"Wherever we went we had pressure put on us because they were worried about drugs and basically it got to the stage where I couldn't find a venue in Bradford to continue.

"In the end there was no option but to go to Leeds, where I started Soundclash, and it was a great success."

But Bradford Councillor Barry Thorne (Lab, Keighley West), chairman of Bradford Council's leisure services committee, rejected the criticism.

"We've been quite positive on the music front," he said.

"We spend thousands of pounds a year supporting music of all types, both with our venues and also by helping individuals."

Coun Thorne cited the hundreds of thousands of pounds the Council contributed to the annual Bradford Festival as one of the ways it supported local musicians at a grass roots level.

Dean - whose band recently had a critically acclaimed album called Naked City Soundtrax released by the influential Arthrob record label - was one of half a dozen performers featured in the programme.

In the series, Radio 1 and Radio 4 presenter John Peel travels to a different town each week to talk to up-and-coming musicians. Also featured in the Bradford episode were Aki Nawaz, of Asian punk pioneers Fun-Da-Mental, Lianne Hall, of acoustic duo The Hiphuggers and schoolgirl singer Jade Doherty.

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