It was meant to be the biggest street party to hit Surbiton this summer, complete with two stages, dozens of musicians and the London gospel choir.

But the Maple Road street party has been axed this year after vital grants were refused - because the town is not deemed to be deprived enough.

Organisers asked for £12,000 from the Community Development Fund but were told a flat no. A similar party in a poor part of Roehampton was granted funds immediately.

Another £28,000 grant from the Arts Council was also denied due to the "sheer volume of worthy causes", but organisers cynically believe it was because the African-themed party is not high-brow enough.

Surbiton resident Nathan Erasmus, 26, put in 200 hours of unpaid work to set the ball rolling and had already provisionally booked bands, organised roles for volunteers and arranged a stage to be built.

He said: "The government thinks Surbiton is a well off area so it's not on the agenda when it comes to hand outs. There is a need for something like this in this area but unfortunately it's not to be.

"People hardly know their neighbours in Surbiton when they are commuting up to town everyday. There's not really a sense of community and I just wanted to do something that's non-exclusive that different people can attend."

The free Let the music speak' party attracted more than 2,000 visitors when it ran for the first time last July. The total cost came to £15,000, from various grants, local donations, and selling advertising in the programme.

This year it was moved back from June 21 to July 26 to allow more time to raise funds but organisers have now lost all hope.

Two Kingston university students also used £900 of their own money to build the stage for the event, which will sadly no longer be used in Surbiton.

Landscape Architecture student Adam Harris, 26, said: "We were going to get grants and claim it back but that's not able to happen anymore so we are coming out of uni with no money in our pockets."