Thanet Councillors “Fuelfest World Tour” Hypocrisy

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As a Green Party member and a former Green Party councillor I’m disgusted that Thanet councillors have said  and done nothing, about the so-called FuelFest 2026 World Tour taking place at Manston Airport this Saturday, 25 July. The seven-hour event features drift cars, drag racing, high-RPM engine displays and live music and is likely to attract a large crowd.

In anticipation of a petrol-head invasion of Manston, Kent County Council has imposed a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order across the area, with a 40mph speed limit and a parking ban on all the approach roads. This indicates the scale of what is coming our way.

It’s worth remembering that seven years ago, in July 2019, Thanet Council declared a climate emergency and committed itself to being carbon neutral by 2030. Yet when a mega-polluting event glorifying the large-scale burning of petrol and tyre rubber turns up on its own doorstep — on land  over which the council itself controls the licensing of — its councillors say nothing and do even less.  But still they will happily and hypocritically wear the badge of the climate emergency;  but will not lift a finger to defend it.

This is not a rant. It is a matter of public health.

Thanet has some of the worst cardiovascular and respiratory death rates in the United Kingdom. The council's own 2018 Air Quality Annual Status Report identified Thanet as having the highest particulate-attributable premature mortality rate in Kent. Under-75 cardiovascular deaths in Thanet run at 86.5 per 100,000 — significantly worse than both Kent (62.1) and England (77.4).

Preventable cardiovascular deaths in Thanet are around 35 per cent above the Kent average. And one of the major contributory causes of these deaths is airborne pollution from petrol and diesel engines.

Yet our councillors remain silent about an event that, in my opinion, is a serious public health danger — one that will spike air pollution across Thanet on 25 July, and that puts many vulnerable people, particularly older residents and those with heart and lung conditions, at real and avoidable risk.

Last but not least, Thanet Council's own Event Policy contains a "Carbon Neutral Events" section — and that section applies to every event in Thanet involving road closures. The KCC Traffic Regulation Order makes FuelFest exactly such an event.

However, there is no public evidence that councillors have applied that policy, no public evidence of any carbon assessment, no public evidence of any air-quality monitoring plan, and — to cap it all — not a single word of opposition or criticism from the politicians who so hypocritically defend the climate emergency declaration of 2019.

I want to ask this council, on the record, four simple questions that residents deserve straight answers to before 25 July:

1.       Has the "Carbon Neutral Events" section of the Council's own Event Policy been applied to FuelFest UK — yes or no?

2.       Will the council carry out independent, real-time air-quality monitoring at the site perimeter and at the nearest homes on the day — yes or no?

3.       Will the council publish, before Saturday, the event's traffic, noise and environmental assessments — yes or no?

4.       Given the public-health data above, will the council use its licensing powers to refuse or amend this event — yes or no?

Silence is an answer too. And on this occasion, silence from Thanet councillors will speak volumes about what their 2019 climate emergency declaration was actually worth.