ORGANISERS of one of the UK's biggest music festivals are holding public consultations over its plans to increase its capacity. 

Boomtown Fair will be held for the 14th time from August 7-14 at the Matterley Estate, near Winchester. 

They want to submit plans to increase the number of people who can attend from 64,999 to 75,999 over a three-year period. Organisers previously applied for the expansion in 2021 but withdrew the application in December 2022. 

Now they are holding public consultation events at The Flower Pots Inn, Cheriton on June 25, 10am-1pm and 2-7pm, and June 26.

A website has been launched to show a timeline of the plans, with a full application expected later this summer. 

A scoping report has been submitted to the South Downs National Park Planning Authority. The plan's website said: “The scoping report outlines our vision for Boomtown, including our ambitions to increase capacity from 2025 over three years to 75,999 attendees, plus our additional 1,000 Sunday community. It also dives into the potential environmental impacts associated with our event, because we're committed to protecting and respecting our planet. The report isn't set in stone; it's a living, breathing blueprint that will evolve through consultation with you, our local community and the wider public.

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Boomtown

“The EIA scoping report is an important step in ensuring a responsible and transparent development process. It involves a detailed assessment of potential environmental impacts across various areas, such as ecology, transport, sound, air quality and lighting.”

The website also sets out some background to the proposal. It said: “Currently, we have planning permission to host 64,999 people with an extra 1,000 Sunday tickets. This remains out of sync with our licensed capacity, set at 77,000, granted by Winchester City Council.

“Back in January 2021, we made moves to increase our capacity to 75,999 attendees, with an additional 1,000 spots reserved just for our Sunday community. However, those hopes hit a snag. In December 2022, we withdrew this application following new information received in the officer's report to the South Downs National Park Authority planning committee. But, fear not we're back with a new application that has considered all of the feedback we were given within that report.”

This year the event is called Chapter Three - Revolution of Imagination with 12 main stages, more than 50 hidden venues, thousands of performers and one secret line-up. 

For more details about the plans, search boomtownfair.co.uk/planning-application.