Fetes and carnivals across Kent are unlikely to be scrapped because of policing costs.

Organisers of village fairs and school fundraisers had feared they would have to call a halt to their events, after police introduced rules to charge them for police hours.

But a Kent Police Authority meeting heard small fetes would most likely be exempt from any costs, brought in from this April.

Under an important rule, any event which incurs fewer than 24 police man hours in total would have its costs waived. So, a fair which needed two policemen working eight hours each would not qualify for charges.

Faversham and District Carnival Club had been told to expect a bill of £3,000 for policing their evening carnival in October.

Speaking this week, a club spokesman feared this new exemption would not apply to them as the carnival would need 200 police man hours.

But she said: “We are still in negotiations with the police with regard to the police hours required to put on the carnival.”

Costs would be applied with a sliding scale of reductions. Commercial events would have no reductions, but statutory events such as remembrance day parades would have a 100 per cent reduction.

Police in Kent set the charge at £29.02 per hour, with double time charged at £48.95.

This compares favourably with other forces, which charge up to £65 an hour on standard time, rising to more than £80 on double time.