Bradford Festival has been revived after an absence of seven years and will take place over six days at City Park this summer.

The Bradford Council-run event will be held from June 10 to 16 in what is promised to be a multicultural programme of international, British and local theatre, art, music and dance.

It will also culminate with a one-day Mela, also held in City Park, in a move away from recent years when it has been held in Peel Park, Undercliffe.

Last June’s Mela had to be cancelled at an estimated cost of more than £200,000 after the park became water-logged by torrential rain.

Bradford Festival was axed amid huge controversy in 2007 as part of a £500,000 package of cuts by the then Conservative-led, Liberal Democrat supported administration of the Council.

The decison was condemned as an absolute disgrace by the then oppostion leader Ian Greenwood.

Last night Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, the now Labour-led Council's executive member for employment, skills and culture, said the revived festival tied in well with a new programme of events at City Park.

“The Mela has been one day for the last couple of years and last year the ground was so sodden, it is much better to hold it on a hard surface,” she said.

“We have got lots of big events happening in City Park and it makes sense to have the new Mela as a climax to those events.

“Events bring people into the centre as we can see from the previous year’s activity which attracted just over 220,000 people into the city centre and feedback from visitors was incredibly positive.

“We estimate that as a result an additional £2.6 million was spent by people in Bradford's shops, hotels and restaurants. This year’s programme promises to be just as exciting.”

The festival is part of the Council’s spring/summer entertainments programme.

Other major events include a one-hour BBC Three ‘spectacular’ re-telling the famous opera, Carmen, in contemporary Bollywood style.

Called Bollywood Live! it takes place on June 9, and will feature a new score by Bhangra pioneer, Kuljit Bhamra, who worked on the West End musical, Bombay Dreams. The production will be broadcast live on BBC Three from City Park.

The World Curry Festival also takes place from June 21 to 23, while the Urban Festival takes place from May 15 to 18.

Other events include Reflections, a day of dance on March 23, free screenings every Saturdays between March 30 and May 4 with free screenings of Back to the Future (PG), Madagascar 3 (U), Tinkerbell & The Secret of the Wings (U), Aladdin (U), Beauty and the Beast (U) and Toy Story (U) on Bradford’s Big Screen.

The Lord Mayor’s Carnival Parade takes place on May 18 while Epilepsy Action’s 10k running race is held on March 24.

Pupils from across the district will also take part in a Routes to Peace ‘Big Sing’ on June 26.