A MUSIC festival says it is moving to Winchester so that it can be “louder, later and longer”.

However, organisers are now playing down the claims on the ‘Glade 2009’ website.

The marketing pitch has not been music to the ears of residents, with one local councillor labelling it “silly”.

Glade opens at Matterley Bowl near Winchester on Friday, July 17. Dance music is expected into the early hours at the three-day event.

From 2004 to 2008, it was based at Wasing Estate in Aldermaston, Berkshire.

However, noise limits prompted the move to Matterley Bowl, a natural amphitheatre by Cheesefoot Head.

It has hosted festivals each summer for a decade. Landowner Peveril Bruce has a licence for up to 15,000 people.

With 10,000 camping tickets available, of which 8,000 have been sold, Glade is below the limit.

As a result, while it must agree conditions with licensing chiefs, a public hearing to decide if it can happen is unlikely.

It will be smaller than Homelands and Hi:Fi, which in recent years drew nearly 40,000 to the bowl.

However, Glade’s website implies that the music will be loud.

It said: “We’ve been making a big noise about the amount of noise we’ll be able to make there.

“Our previous venue was great, but quite simply we finally had to accept that we couldn’t do what we wanted to do there, which is to have a proper music festival where you could feel and hear the music late into the night.”

It added: “Louder, later and longer — moving to a new festival site means we can really go for it on the music front.”

It will be headlined by Underworld, best known for Born Slippy as featured in the film, Trainspotting. However, festival organiser, Luke Piper, played down the noise levels this week.

He said: “It won’t be as large as Homelands. This is only a 10,000-capacity event and we want to keep it small.”

Cllr Neil Baxter, who represents the area on the city council, criticised the marketing pitch: “It’s a silly way to go about it, advertising it in that way,” he said.

Cllr Steve Gapper, who chairs Itchen Valley Parish Council, said they had met the organisers twice.

He said: “Our view is that we’d rather not have the event at all. But they told us that Winchester City Council would be there to monitor sound levels, and there would be a hotline for complaints.”