Organisers say the idea behind A Taste of Emsworth was to hold a market in the square and encourage visitors to eat in the local pubs and restaurants during the last weekend of the month.

But safety planning officers at Havant Borough Council feared the event could spark chaos with people mistaking it for the enormously popular Emsworth Food Festival – axed this year but which traditionally draws in tens of thousands of people to the narrow streets of Emsworth.

Now organiser David Linington has had to wind up the event and refund the stall holders.

The 58-year-old from Maisemore Gardens, Emsworth, said: 'The borough council declined to give us permission for the street trading licence for the little market on the grounds of public safety.

'They thought the event would be confused with the big Emsworth Food Festival and said we'd have to have a park-and-ride scheme, which is ridiculous.

'It just would not have been big enough for that. We were looking at about 5,000 at the most.

'Anyway, we are disappointed but we have accepted their decision.'

Organisers of the Emsworth Food Festival decided last year to give the town a break after more than 55,000 people turned up last year.

Councillor Brendan Gibb-Gray said the council's decision was down to planning concerns. He said: 'They did not get a great deal of support from other community groups. Their planning was awry so when they went to the council they were not able to say they had everything they needed in place for public safety.

'There was no plan for traffic management, park- and-ride schemes, crowd management, toilet facilities or bus routes.

'So, from the chief executive down, the council said they could not give consent. It was not a knee-jerk reaction, it was a hard-headed decision.'