ORGANISERS of a popular steam rally have rowed with a parish council over "libellous" claims it was trying to cancel an annual event.

The Welland Steam Rally was held on Woodside Farm, Welland, from Friday, July 28 to Sunday, July 30 and featured a wide array of activities including steam train rides, tug of war, a craft tent and a farmers market.

A spokesperson for the rally claimed Little Malvern and Welland Parish Council was trying to stop the event from taking place next year, due to complaints about traffic chaos in road surrounding the event.

However the council rejected the accusation and stressed it was not opposed to the event.

The rally pokesman had asked people to email members of the parish council to back its cause.

The social media post amassed hundreds of likes, shares and comments from concerned visitors.

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Despite a post in which it accused the Little Malvern and Welland Parish Council of trying to stop the event, the parish council has denied the claim.

Cllr Viv Nelson, Welland parish councillor, said: "What they have said is libellous and the effect has been terrible.

"Not only was what they were suggesting news to us, but it also does not even fall under the remit of the parish council in any way.

"We have all received a lot of insulting and rude emails as a result of this social media post.

"That being said, we have had a lot of residents coming to us and saying how bad the traffic issues were from the event, which is the same every single year.

"However, we have in no way ever tried to stop it and will not try to stop it. We want a full retraction and an apology from the organisers for this."

Pete Evans, site officer for The Welland Steam Rally, said that the social media post was a "misprint" but was leaving the post up.

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He said: "This all came about as we had received an email from somebody saying they were going to start an action group in an attempt to get the event cancelled in the future due to traffic concerns.

"We wanted to get our side across to the Parish Council as quickly as possible but our social media post had a misprint.

"As far as we are aware, no decisions have been made by the parish council. We want it known that over the weekend there were multiple events, and not just ours, which contributed to traffic. Why pick on us?"