LOCAL people have become alarmed at plans for a 5,000-guest music festival at a remote spot on the English-Welsh border – for the next five years.

Monmouth-registered Gemfestival Ltd has applied to hold GemFest, an ‘eclectic range of electronic dance music’ over the weekend between June 13 and 16 on farmland near the hamlet of Walterstone in Herefordshire with camping and car parking across the River Monnow in Pandy, Monmouthshire.

GemFest drew around 1,500 revellers at Howle Hill last June, but is now looking to grow to up to 5,000 in the coming years, the firm’s application says.

Though spanning the English-Welsh border, the licensable activities – alcohol sales, late-night food and drink, live and recorded music – are to be on the Herefordshire side.

These would continue until 2am on the Friday and Saturday nights, and till midnight on the Sunday.

A noise management plan is to be agreed with the council beforehand, with noise levels to be checked during the event.

Attendees would arrive on the Welsh side of the Monnow where camping would be provided, with two temporary bridges alongside an existing narrow public footbridge giving access to the six stages, stalls and bars, accompanying maps show.

But Longtown Group Parish Council said policing the event would require ‘significant manpower’, access for emergency services both to and within the festival site would be “severely restricted”, and the music and crowd noise would cause “extreme nuisance to local people”.

Cedric Mathison stated on the licensing portal that it would be “naïve to think there will be no illegal drugs” at the event.

He added that the proposed 600 parking spaces would be totally inadequate for the forecast number of attendees.

Locals have already been notified that, given the concerns raised, the application will be decided by the council’s licensing committee on April 17.