The future of Kingston Carnival is set to be debated by councillors next week.

The 15th annual carnival was due to be headlined by former Specials frontman Neville Staple in September, but was cancelled amid safety concerns over the number of people expected to turn up.

A petition calling on the outdoor street festival to be reinstated will be discussed at full council at the Guildhall on Tuesday, November 4, after gathering more than 700 signatures.

Carnival organiser John Azah, from Kingston Race and Equalities Council (KREC), said: "I don't think there has ever been a petition to support a local event like this before. The fact that we got more than 700 signatures in less than a fortnight shows how strongly people feel about it.

"It will be quite interesting to see what form the debate takes.We want to go on and build a strong, quality event if we have the backing from agencies."

The petition says: "Kingston Council has ample experience in funding, facilitating and co-managing busy, sometimes high profile community events in the town centre – food festivals, night markets, IYAF, the Prudential bike ride, events at The Rose Theatre.

"We ask that they show the same level of planning, priority and commitment to Kingston Carnival, an event that is vital to fostering and promoting a diverse, harmonious sense of cross-cultural community in Kingston."

The carnival, an alcohol-free festival with live music, dancers and global food stalls, was hit with several setbacks this year.

These included changes to policing strategy which meant police officers would not supervise road closures during the carnival.

Instead, KREC was asked to pay nearly £12,000 for security and an external events management company to organise noise control, crowd control and stewarding plans.

Bruce McDonald, chief executive of Kingston Council, said the carnival had become "a victim of its own success" after the event was dropped.

Following the cancellation, Neville Staple headlined a club night, Long Live Kingston Carnival, at McClusky’s the same week the event was due to take place.