A CHIEF constable has condemned as "misguided" protesters who staged a demonstration at a meeting he attended.

Grahame Maxwell, chief constable of North Yorkshire, was greeted by the demonstration on Thursday of last week as he arrived for a meeting at Harrogate Borough Council chambers.

Protesters with banners, signs and posters turned out to join other event organisers to voice their anger at North Yorkshire Constabulary's decision not to police Ripon's St Wilfrid's Procession.

The parade has been held in the city every year since the death of St Wilfrid, its patron saint, nearly 1,300 years ago, and has followed the same route since 1954.

But this year's parade, on August 2, could be cancelled if organisers cannot raise the £18,000 needed to make it go ahead.

They now need to pay for insurance and safety provisions to safeguard those attending as well as traffic management. And, if they want the road closed, they must put in an application, which must be approved.

This means an additional £10,000 bill on top of the £8,000 it costs to stage the parade.

Annette Wilson, chairman of St Wilfrid's Procession committee, said: "The police are always going on and on about the community supporting them but on our main event we are not being supported.

"St Wilfrid is the patron saint of Ripon and next year it is 1,300 years since he died, so it's a long tradition and 10,000 people turn up each year.

"Grahame Maxwell has to take notice of how many community events he is ruining - so many people are going to have to cancel because they cannot afford to pay for traffic management."

Mr Maxwell said: "I welcome, as always, the opportunity to meet with the public but feel that, although their meeting tonight is well intentioned, it is misinformed. The police have a duty to uphold and enforce the law and not deal with traffic management at planned events. This is a responsibility which rests with the organisers.

"I am disappointed that tonight's organisers have not responded to requests for meetings that have been offered by my events team but have chosen to use my visit to Harrogate's audit and scrutiny committee, which has been planned for some time, for their own ends."

Mr Maxwell said he acknowledged the complexity of issues surrounding traffic management and event safety but believed "misinformation" and a lack of preparation by others had exacerbated the issues, leading to "widespread confusion".

This week, Harrogate Borough Council was to hold a meeting to discuss the issue of events management in detail. It was part of a series of meetings that the police are holding with councils across the county to inform stakeholders and the community on their roles and responsibilities relating to event management.It is not the first time an event's future has been under threat because of traffic management costs. Last year, Bedale's pancake race had to be moved to a park because of spiralling road closure costs.

And in 2006, Sedgefield Community Association cancelled the traditional procession of musicians and decorated floats at its Sedgefield Medieval Fair because of increasing road closure costs.