A late bid to save Whitstable’s Oyster Festival from “effective cancellation” has been launched by a high-profile business boss in the town.

Whitstable Oyster Company director James Green has pledged £10,000 to help restore popular events to the annual festival, which has been drastically scaled back from 10 days to three.

A strict 9pm curfew has also been imposed and the bulk of the programme moved out of Whitstable to Tankerton Slopes.

It follows complaints last year about excessive drinking, littering and overcrowding - with 43 formal objections submitted to the council.

But Mr Green says pressure should be put on councillors to force a U-turn, claiming the revised format will be “a disaster for Whitstable”.

“The Oyster Festival has been built up over 30 years by the hard work of many people and businesses in Whitstable, and yet this important decision seems to have been taken without any proper consultation with the majority of people,” he said.

“There were over 40 complaints about last year’s event but, when compared to the tens of thousands of people who visited and had a great time, and a population of over 30,000, it doesn’t seem like many does it?

“Fine tuning it may have needed, and a return to its roots as a family festival, but surely not curtailing to this degree. A curfew of 9pm? No outdoor cinema? No fireworks? The movement of the Harbour food fair to Tankerton? How can that make any sense? It’s the Whitstable Oyster Festival.

“Once it has gone it will be very hard to get people back.”

Canterbury City Council’s scaled back format was revealed just a fortnight after the plug was pulled on the Whitstable Regatta.

The decision was taken by its organisers, the Whitstable Lions, who blamed council bureaucracy forcing costs up.

“The cancellation of the Regatta seems almost as disappointing,” Mr Green said.

“This is a much more local event enjoyed by most families in Whitstable - surely we should make more of an effort to save it?

“The Whitstable Lions have done a sterling job - and who can blame them for throwing in the towel due to excessive bureaucracy and the spiralling cost of the event - but that is not a reason to let it go.”

Mr Green says efforts should be made to save both calendar favourites from being lost forever.

“It is not too late for either event,” he said.

“Let’s reinstate some of the Oyster Festival’s main events. It is only March and the festival is not until the end of July.

“Instead of accepting these decisions, let’s put pressure on the councillors who made these decisions to at least bring back the cinema screening to Tankerton Slopes, reinstate the fireworks, and move the food fair back to the Harbour where it belongs.

“As regards the Regatta, the same is true - it is not on until August and the Lions have offered help to anyone taking over the event.

“The Whitstable Oyster Company will donate £10,000 to help make it happen.”