Organisers of community events, including the Maidstone River Festival, have received a major boost after it was announced that a controversial charging scheme for their policing is to be scrapped.

The decision by the Kent Police Authority means a range of organisations will save thousands of pounds.

There had been concerns that imposing policing fees for events would threaten charitable donations.

This year’s River Festival was almost cancelled due to anticipated charges of more than £15,000, which came from Association of Police Officers guidelines.

Event organiser David Knight said: “We did have some money set aside for policing costs, but it meant that we had to make the festival a one-day event rather than two.

“It will be fantastic if charges are dropped and will mean that next year’s 30th anniversary festival will be a cracking event.”

The move was also welcomed by Leeds Castle, which has staged a series of concerts that incurred a hefty policing bill.

John Summers, the venue’s operating manger, said: “We have had to pay for police traffic management which was a factor in us scaling down the number of people at our events, with some of them going from 18,000 to less than 6,000.

“Anything that helps us save money as a charity is a good thing, and we may look at bigger events in the future.”

Kent Police Authority spokesman Alison Hammond said that, although an immediate introduction of a 100 per cent abatement on charges for community and charity events had been agreed, a final proposal on the events-charging policy would be drawn up and brought to next month's full KPA meeting.