A popular music event that draws thousands of people to the coast every year is “running out of time” to raise the £2,000 it needs to go ahead.

For Herne Bay Rocks - which traditionally brings Bayfest to a close - to be able to take place, its organiser David Shepherd says he needs the money before the end of May.

In a last-ditch attempt to fundraise, he has created a GoFundMe page, but has only managed to generate £330 from it.

“We’re running out of time,” he said. “The options are: to not put the show on to the same level as last year or not do it at all.

“I don’t want to put on a half-arsed show because we don’t have enough money.”

Mr Shepherd blames added “layers” of council bureaucracy and an increase in costs for the event’s troubles this year.

He said the cost of organising a road closure has risen from a “£25 admin fee” paid to Canterbury City Council last year, to one “between £600 and £700” paid to Kent County Council.

“We then have to advertise, so we’re looking at about £1,000 to close off a small section of road for five hours,” he added.

The £2,000 is needed by the end of the month because KCC has to be given notice of the road closure 12 weeks before the event is due to take place on August 25.

Mr Shepherd said they also have to prove they can handle a terror attack.

“KCC, on the advice of the police, requires we have various training,” he said.

“For example, we now have to write in our event management programme how we would deal with a lorry ploughing through pedestrians as part of a terrorist attack.

“With increased admin, compliance, licence and road closure fees, we have to find around £2,700 before we think about the stage, sound, lights and performances.

“There are more hurdles now than ever before and they are putting people off.”

Mr Shepherd was reluctant to blame the city council for the changes and instead thinks they were handed down by the government.

This is a view shared by Gerald McCarthy of the BayPromoTeam, who has helped to run the air show and Sci-Fi by the Sea.

He has written “frustrated” Facebook posts on the issue and argues that “a lot of the problems lie with the licensing act”.

“If next weekend was supposed to be nice, it would be impossible to put on an event under current guidelines,” he explained.

“There are notice periods of 28 days for some licences and for events of more than 500 people we’d need to provide six months’ notice.

“With the Clock Tower only staging two music events this year, we have to be careful that this kind of red tape doesn’t degenerate the town.”

Mr Shepherd estimates that Herne Bay Rocks rakes in about £60,000 for local businesses and has appealed to them for sponsorship.

“We had an offer from outside concessions that would have made up a large part of the shortfall,” he said.

“But we felt this wouldn’t be fair to the seafront businesses. So far just two have offered sponsorship, despite us refusing to allow in outside concessions.

“Without their sponsorship, the event won’t go ahead and everyone will lose out.”

City council spokesman Rob Davies said it wants to ensure there is the “right balance between public safety and top quality events”.

“We work closely with organisers to help them run safe events, and have supported Mr Shepherd with many events in Herne Bay,” he said.

“While it is inevitable there will be a process to go through for this to happen, we do understand Mr Shepherd’s frustrations and are looking at ways to simplify this.”

To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/herne-bay-festival-main-stage-event.