Countryside campaigners are calling for the Boomtown Fair to be moved outside the South Downs National Park.

The South Downs Network (SDN) also said that villagers have complained about noise disturbances being 'louder than usual'.

The music event was held from August 9-13, with thousands of people attending.

The SDN is calling for the festival to be moved outside the national park which runs from Winchester across east Hampshire into Sussex.

A SDN spokesman said: “Our main objective is to achieve the best possible South Downs National Park, the first statutory purpose of which is to 'conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area'. 

“We remain convinced that Boomtown Fair would be best re-located to another site outside of the National Park after the current temporary six-year planning permission expires next year. People who enjoy the experience of attending the festival would still be able to attend but in a more appropriate setting.

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“As regards this month’s Boomtown event, the South Downs Network has been made aware of many residents in local villages being caused serious nuisance, mainly by music noise and particularly the low frequency bass ‘thudding’ which was especially bad in Avington where some residents were unable to get to sleep in their own homes until 4am on Friday and Saturday nights. 

“The same noise disturbed residents as far away as Kilmeston and West Meon and has been described by some residents as ‘louder than usual’. Another cause of annoyance which resulted in failure to get to sleep was the bad light pollution which also carried on until 4am. 

“While particularly bad in Avington it was also caused nuisance in many villages including Kilmeston, Easton and Meonstoke, which is seven miles from Cheesefoot Head. 

“Finally, there was the usual gridlock on roads in and around Winchester on Monday August 14 which clearly had a serious adverse impact on the work and social commitments of many local people.”

A Boomtown spokesman said: “We are currently exploring what a new application might look like and as soon as we can we will communicate this with the local community. This is likely to be this autumn.

“We understand some of the challenges that can come alongside living close to a large festival, and we work year round with the local community to help us put in place anything that would minimise this disruption. 

“As part of our noise management plan, when a complaint is made to Boomtown about noise levels, a sound control consultant is deployed within 30 minutes to take a measurement. We have fixed monitoring positions in the local area where off-site noise levels are measured for the duration of the event to ensure compliance. 

“We hold regular meetings throughout the year for local residents to feed into the planning process for important strategies like traffic and noise. We will continue to work with the local community to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum.”