A controversial festival has been given permission to take place in a small Kent village, attracting crowds of up to 1,500 people. The food and music event has been given approval despite backlash from local villagers.

The Sevenoaks community fears the “population will double” and the village will struggle to cope. The Knockholt Fest – a one-day food and music festival – close to the North Downs Way national trail is set to take place on Saturday, August 5.

It has been billed as a brand new community event set in the “heart of the countryside” offering “everything you’d expect from a Great British Festival”. This includes live music, street food, award-winning beverages and local craft traders.

READ MORE: The Kent town with five private schools named one of Britain’s 50 most desirable places to live

An application was lodged with Sevenoaks council by landowner Michael Cutting and events organiser Jay Scott for a time-limited licence for the event in Knockholt, requesting to open from 10.30am until 10pm, and sell alcohol from 11am until the same cut off. But it has been met with opposition from local residents, 26 of which wrote to the council’s licensing department to complain, as well as Knockholt Parish Council.

Sarah Tormey, head of St Katharine’s Church of England Primary School, also expressed fears, and wrote: “I am concerned that the school itself will be vulnerable to damage, illegal parking etc as it will be the obvious choice for frustrated drivers to park in. We will have to provide security during this event to protect our school.”

Large crowds are expected to gather in the village at peak times with car parking allocated for 500 vehicles. Pauline Eldridge and John Lewis Smith wrote to the licensing department: “Knockholt is a small village community with about 1500 residents.

“Thus, on the date in question, the population will double.” At a heated meeting of the council’s licensing sub-committee on June 20, landowner Mr Cutting sought to reassure disgruntled residents.

He told councillors and villagers the goal of the festival was “to put on a nice community event for everyone to enjoy in the British countryside”. It was also stated some of the money raised would go to Friends for Families, a Sevenoaks-based charity which supports families facing financial hardship.

However, the assembled residents weren’t swayed. Judy Bloomer said: “The first thing we heard about it was a letter from the parish council.

She added: “It isn’t about community, it isn’t about involving the church or the school or everybody else, this is about making money.” Tickets for the event cost £5 for children, £10 for adults, and £30 for a family ticket.

Mrs Bloomer and her husband own land directly next to the site of the festival – and only a sheep fence separates them from the festivities, Judy said. “You’re selling alcohol, you’re attracting young people – it’s not just families,” she continued.

“There is nothing to stop people avoiding paying to come to your event, coming onto the rights of way, and in our grounds effectively setting up and partying, buying alcohol from the local shop and trying to have a party in our grounds.” Linda Martin, who lives directly across the road from the festival site, said to the committee: “I’m not against festivals for a start, I’m an old hippy so I love festivals, I just think where it’s being planned isn’t the right place.

“I didn’t move to Knockholt when I stopped fostering children for a festival opposite my house, I wanted a quiet life.” Worrying about the delivery of equipment to the site, she told of her fears of “nearly a week of upheaval for our community”.

“At school drop off times it’s chaos, I have to time when I can get out of my drive. I haven’t got a choice of whether I want to go to the festival and enjoy or not, I’ll have to put up with it because that’s where I live, right near your festival.”

Mr Scott assured those present that live music would end at 9.30pm. After an hour of deliberation, the members of the licensing sub-committee told residents and the organisers that they were going to grant the licence.

“We appreciate that the event has a relatively considerate ending time, it’s taking place on a Saturday, keeping disturbance to a minimum for neighbours and children,” said chair of the committee, Cllr Diana Esler (Con). “The sub committee appreciates that the applicant, upon hearing some of the objector’s concerns, have offered to take steps in certain areas to mitigate the concerns raised,” she added.

After the meeting Mr Scott, who also runs the Kent Food Fest, said that the event would feature food trucks and “one of the finalists of Masterchef,” cooking vegan food. Mr Cutting told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I feel good obviously that we’ve won, but we’re not trying to do anything unjustified or untoward to the local community, we want to get everyone involved and we want everyone to enjoy the day.

“The main thing is to bring fun for the whole family from the children to the grandparents. There’s kids rides, there’s food stalls, there’s everything there and the safety’s there.

“It’s not like it’s going to be some crazy rave in the back of everyone’s garden.”

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A controversial festival has been given permission to take place in a small Kent village, attracting crowds of up to 1,500 people. The food and music event has been given approval despite backlash from local villagers.

The Sevenoaks community fears the “population will double” and the village will struggle to cope. The Knockholt Fest – a one-day food and music festival – close to the North Downs Way national trail is set to take place on Saturday, August 5.

It has been billed as a brand new community event set in the “heart of the countryside” offering “everything you’d expect from a Great British Festival”. This includes live music, street food, award-winning beverages and local craft traders.

READ MORE: The Kent town with five private schools named one of Britain’s 50 most desirable places to live

An application was lodged with Sevenoaks council by landowner Michael Cutting and events organiser Jay Scott for a time-limited licence for the event in Knockholt, requesting to open from 10.30am until 10pm, and sell alcohol from 11am until the same cut off. But it has been met with opposition from local residents, 26 of which wrote to the council’s licensing department to complain, as well as Knockholt Parish Council.

Sarah Tormey, head of St Katharine’s Church of England Primary School, also expressed fears, and wrote: “I am concerned that the school itself will be vulnerable to damage, illegal parking etc as it will be the obvious choice for frustrated drivers to park in. We will have to provide security during this event to protect our school.”

Large crowds are expected to gather in the village at peak times with car parking allocated for 500 vehicles. Pauline Eldridge and John Lewis Smith wrote to the licensing department: “Knockholt is a small village community with about 1500 residents.

“Thus, on the date in question, the population will double.” At a heated meeting of the council’s licensing sub-committee on June 20, landowner Mr Cutting sought to reassure disgruntled residents.

He told councillors and villagers the goal of the festival was “to put on a nice community event for everyone to enjoy in the British countryside”. It was also stated some of the money raised would go to Friends for Families, a Sevenoaks-based charity which supports families facing financial hardship.

However, the assembled residents weren’t swayed. Judy Bloomer said: “The first thing we heard about it was a letter from the parish council.

She added: “It isn’t about community, it isn’t about involving the church or the school or everybody else, this is about making money.” Tickets for the event cost £5 for children, £10 for adults, and £30 for a family ticket.

Mrs Bloomer and her husband own land directly next to the site of the festival – and only a sheep fence separates them from the festivities, Judy said. “You’re selling alcohol, you’re attracting young people – it’s not just families,” she continued.

“There is nothing to stop people avoiding paying to come to your event, coming onto the rights of way, and in our grounds effectively setting up and partying, buying alcohol from the local shop and trying to have a party in our grounds.” Linda Martin, who lives directly across the road from the festival site, said to the committee: “I’m not against festivals for a start, I’m an old hippy so I love festivals, I just think where it’s being planned isn’t the right place.

“I didn’t move to Knockholt when I stopped fostering children for a festival opposite my house, I wanted a quiet life.” Worrying about the delivery of equipment to the site, she told of her fears of “nearly a week of upheaval for our community”.

“At school drop off times it’s chaos, I have to time when I can get out of my drive. I haven’t got a choice of whether I want to go to the festival and enjoy or not, I’ll have to put up with it because that’s where I live, right near your festival.”

Mr Scott assured those present that live music would end at 9.30pm. After an hour of deliberation, the members of the licensing sub-committee told residents and the organisers that they were going to grant the licence.

“We appreciate that the event has a relatively considerate ending time, it’s taking place on a Saturday, keeping disturbance to a minimum for neighbours and children,” said chair of the committee, Cllr Diana Esler (Con). “The sub committee appreciates that the applicant, upon hearing some of the objector’s concerns, have offered to take steps in certain areas to mitigate the concerns raised,” she added.

After the meeting Mr Scott, who also runs the Kent Food Fest, said that the event would feature food trucks and “one of the finalists of Masterchef,” cooking vegan food. Mr Cutting told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I feel good obviously that we’ve won, but we’re not trying to do anything unjustified or untoward to the local community, we want to get everyone involved and we want everyone to enjoy the day.

“The main thing is to bring fun for the whole family from the children to the grandparents. There’s kids rides, there’s food stalls, there’s everything there and the safety’s there.

“It’s not like it’s going to be some crazy rave in the back of everyone’s garden.”

Get more news from KentLive straight to your inbox for free HERE.