Dundee's bid to become the UK City Of Culture could have been a victim of the city's existing cultural success, according to the chairman of the panel that chose Hull as the winner.
However, Phil Redmond, the television producer, insisted the prospect of Scottish independence, which could have seen a winning Dundee bid being 2017 UK City Of Culture in an independent Scotland, played no part in the panel's deliberations.
Mr Redmond, best known for creating Channel 4 soap Brookside and BBC1's school drama Grange Hill, said the decision to pick Hull was unanimous and the title was designed to go to the city that "would benefit the most from that title - and you can draw your own conclusions about what that meant for the Dundee bid."
Mr Redmond said the Hull bid, whose adviser was Andrew Dixon, the ex-chief executive of Creative Scotland, had a "compelling case based on its theme as a 'city coming out of the shadows'."
Dundee, which hopes to press ahead with its new cultural strategy despite yesterday's result, already has several key cultural centres in the city, including Dundee Contemporary Arts, the Dundee Rep, the new £45 million V&A in Dundee, which will open at the end of 2016, and the Duncan Of Jordanstone College Of Art & Design, among others.
The Dundee bid also involved a £25m programme of events that would have brought 1000 new jobs to the city.
Mr Redmond said next year's referendum vote, and its implications, did not play any part in the panel's deliberations.
"No, it didn't, and you are talking to someone who comes from the People's Republic of Merseyside," he said. "That issue had no impact at all. Dundee will be getting a full response from the panel on how this decision was made."
UK Culture Minister Maria Miller said Hull had "faced many challenges down the years."
Stewart Murdoch, the chairman of the Dundee bid, said the city was very disappointed to plan a programme that it will not now be able to stage. He said he had heard speculation Dundee's current cultural offer was "too good to win" a title that is seen as a mechanism to boost cities in need of economic and cultural uplift.
The bid has not yet heard why it did not succeed, although it is to have a response from the panel in the coming weeks.
Mr Murdoch said that if Dundee's bid gave the judging panel the impression that Dundee did not have "great needs", he would be upset.
"That would chime in with what we are hearing - that we had the best bid but did not win," he said. "How much we can do now, that depends on the support we receive from Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government."
The current City Of Culture, Derry/Londonderry, has seen visitor numbers double over the course of this year and has had about £120m of investment into the city since the title was won in 2009.
SNP MEP Alyn Smith suggested Dundee should now apply for the EU's Capital Of Culture title.
Ken Guild, leader of Dundee City Council, said: "Far from being downhearted, I think this bid process has already helped us to further boost partnership efforts to encourage even more participation in the arts in the city."
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