Political campaigners behind a sun-and-salsa event on the seafront claim they will lose valuable cash because a council snubbed their event.

Cuba Solidarity claimed it would miss out on fund-raising money because Brighton and Hove Council has forced them to take a later booking.

The group, which is organising a free fun fiesta between the Palace Pier and West Pier, says it originally booked the August Bank Holiday slot.

But the council told them weeks later that the event is not mainstream enough.

Now it has been pushed back to this weekend, a date the organisers fear is too far towards the end of the summer season to bring in the crowds or ensure sunny weather.

Cuba Solidarity is a campaign group which collects money to buy medical and educational supplies for the poverty-stricken country.

Cuban carnival band Paseo Malanga will dance up and down the seafront, getting the public to join in. Stalls selling Cuban and other goods will raise money for the group.

The group will also be delivering political speeches against what it calls an unfair trade blockade on Cuba by the United States.

Brighton group secretary John McLeod said he is still hoping to attract hundreds of people, but he believes this would have been easier at the heart of the summer season.

He said the group managed to raise more than £1,500 at a similar event last year, used to buy a second-hand ambulance which was shipped to Cuba.

"We had a bit of a tussle with the authorities because they said they are gearing that area up for mainline events. We have been pushed to the margins of the season and we are not happy about that.

"We are looking to meet council officers to ask why we couldn't have this venue for that day and what is a mainline event. We are hardly a radical group. We have never had any overt hostility towards us. We do not want any hostility with the council.

"We basically want to say okay, you are talking about mainline. What do you expect of us so we are in that category?"

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove Council said Cuba Solidarity wanted to book a space outside the bars on the seafront right in the heart of an area reserved for public entertainment.

She added: "We have accommodated them and hopefully they will have a good event.

"It's not because they are not mainstream enough."

The event, which also includes information stalls on Cuba and a street collection to raise funds for the group's cause, will start on Saturday at noon, with the salsa show kicking off at 2pm.