"If the Government and people of Jersey genuinely think that a rally of motor cars is good for the image of Jersey, then surely the appropriate rally would be of electrical vehicles, or those powered by similar zero-emission motors. Jersey ought to be leading the way in promoting a ‘green’ future rather than lagging behind by promoting increasingly obsolete and polluting technology," he added.

"It promotes the wrong message to the people of Jersey. Apart from the ‘anti-green’ message inherent in this kind of motor racing, it makes a complete mockery of the speed limits that exist (for very good reason) in our island. Any kind of competitive motor racing glamourises speed in our small island, where speed on the roads and lanes is acknowledged not only to be undesirable, but completely unnecessary," the letter continued.

"Furthermore, the people who are likely to find the glamour of speed most attractive are the young, the careless, and, perhaps, the simple-minded. These are precisely the people in our society who are already involved in most road accidents where speed is a factor. The message sent by the continuation of this event is simply very wrong."

Mr Harris also claimed the rally "imprisons many people in their houses for hours at a time".

"It is not as if such confinement is relaxing and peaceful, because every few minutes a motor car is going to pass by their house at an absurdly dangerous speed, leaving behind a plume of smelly and polluting exhaust fumes, and making an unnecessarily loud noise, often in vehicles with silencers removed, or modified to allow greater speed - and thus more noise. It is akin to torture, the noise equivalent of waterboarding."

Pictured: The Jersey Rally is scheduled to take place this weekend.

Mr Harris continued: "The passage of high speed vehicles is physically damaging to the immediate environment as well as polluting the environment with toxic fumes and hideous noise. Many of Jersey's roads and lanes, including the lane on which I live, are holloways, chemins creux or sunken roads, that are significantly lower than the land on either side, formed by centuries of slow erosion by water and/or horse-drawn traffic.

"A motor vehicle, no matter how aerodynamic, will always create a vacuum effect in its wake. At 10-15mph, the impact on the environment is barely noticeable. At 60-80mph the effect can be dramatic. On the occasion of previous motor rallies, my back gate was sucked significantly into the wake of passing vehicles, and sprang back repeatedly with a loud and alarming crash. I had to repair the minor damage that was caused. The same suction has a similar effect on all of the trees and bushes growing on the banks of the lane."

He concluded: "For the sake of the welfare of Jersey's inhabitants, for the sake of the climate, and for the sake of the image of Jersey in the wider world, I appeal to whoever is responsible to impose some common sense onto this nonsensical event, by either banning it completely and forever, or at the very least, insisting that the event is modified to include only vehicles with as little impact on the climate and the environment as is technically possible."

"We fully recognise our responsibility as a sport to engage in the [climate change] discussion"

- Jersey Rally organisers

In response, the Jersey Motor Cycle and Light Car Club said: "The Club has successfully organised the Jersey Rally since 1983.

"The letter writer identifies a number of different issues, some of which are out of our remit to comment upon.

"Each year, and this year was no different, every property which is to be affected by the proposed road closures is visited by Club members to advise of the proposals and identify any special requirements the residents may have.

"This year we visited approximately 1,800 properties, some up to five times. Of these, we registered fewer than 45 residents who were opposed to either the Rally or the proposed road closure. We are very mindful that whilst the vast majority of those we speak to support the Jersey Rally, closing roads does have an effect on people. We therefore try and alternate the location of stages so they only repeat every couple of years.

"Whilst no driver ever intends to crash their car, some damage to property is possible. We have robust measures in place to deal with damage, where it is either clear and obvious, or it has been notified to us by the landowner. It is always repaired, at our cost, within reasonable timescales."

Pictured: The JMC&LCC said it is "very mindful" that closing roads "does have an effect on people".

The organisers continued: "The Club is not part of the Government of Jersey and, as such, we cannot comment on what the Government’s position on the island’s response to Climate Change is. We can say, however, that we fully recognise our responsibility as a sport to engage in the discussion and progress measures designed to reduce our impact on climate change.

"This year, we have engaged with Carbon Positive Motorsport who operate a carbon offsetting scheme. They have provided measures to mitigate the impact of our course cars by offsetting the estimated carbon dioxide equivalent for the duration of the Rally. Competitors are also able to invest in this themselves, if they so wish.

"Our course cars are, this year, mild hybrid vehicles further reducing our impact. Whilst we accept that these are small measures, they are the first steps towards us becoming more mindful of the impact of the sport on the environment."