SHEERNESS Carnival organisers fear its future is threatened if a £1,700 fee cannot be found to pay Kent Police to close roads around the route.

The selection dance for this year’s Miss Sheppey takes place on February 29 but the queen and her princesses may not get to lead the Island’s parade in August if the money can’t be found.

Carnival committee member Emma Harris said the police were planning to charge carnival courts for the first time.

She said: "It’s going to be very difficult for us to raise that cash. We have lots of other expenses, including £1,000 insurance for the carnival, dresses for the girls and the cost of petrol for getting to other carnivals with the float and two cars.

"The committee’s work is voluntary and many of its members have been involved for several years and they sometimes covered costs from their own pockets.

"Kent Police say the fee covers officers’ wages during the carnival but I can’t see how that works when 90 per cent of them are volunteer special constables who aren’t paid.

"We’re involved 50 weeks a year on carnival business and our only income is from the Sheppey parade which raises about £2,500.

"We have been approaching local businesses to see if they can help but it is a difficult job. The event has been getting bigger in recent years and it would be a huge loss to the Island if it had to stop."

A Kent Police spokesman said all forces in Britain were now obliged to charge fees for events of this kind following a court case in Yorkshire.

Swale Borough commander Ch Insp Mark Chambers said: "Kent Police’s decision to introduce ‘common charges’ for policing events reflects national Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) policy.

"Police have for many years charged organisers of certain events for the cost of policing them, so the principle is not new. Kent is one of the last police forces to adopt the revised national policy."