CONTROVERSIAL plans to hold a three-day music festival at the Hop Farm in Paddock Wood have been rejected by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council.

East Peckham residents celebrated when they heard the licence application to increase the capacity to 53,000 people, including 20,000 campers from July 2 to July 6 next year, was thrown out by councillors.

The decision was made at a packed meeting of the Licensing and Appeals Committee, on Tuesday, on the grounds there was a lack of information from the applicant. Giving evidence at the meeting chief planner at the council Lindsay Pearson said: "The level of information at submission of the licence is not sufficient for us to be satisfied that as a matter of principle the proposal should go ahead."

Despite arguments by festival organisers that more detailed evacuation, traffic and flooding plans would be submitted once the licence was granted, members were not convinced concerns over public safety and disruption to residents were addressed.

A number of villagers raised strong concerns at the meeting about noise, flooding, high levels of traffic and the impact on the environment. Gill Singleton, of Snoll Hatch Road, collected 377 signatures on a petition against the plans, which has Glastonbury and Reading Festival organiser Vince Power at its heart. The 59-year-old said: "I'm glad the councillors did see sense and thought about the impact it would have on us villagers so I'm pleased for the residents. We have suffered from the Hop Farm for many years and I'm afraid this would have been the nail in the coffin if this had gone through."

Andy Barham, 64, of Fell Mead, agreed, saying noise levels would have been too high in a rural area. He added: "It is a beautiful place to be, you can't hear cars there and the birds are singing and that disturbs it."

Hop Farm owner Peter Bull said he was "60 per cent sure" they would be appealing the decision and stressed he wanted to work with the community. He said: "It has been controversial, it was nice to hear everybody's views. I haven't come in there to be a bad neighbour, hopefully in time we can prove to be a good neighbour but there is give and take on both sides.

"What people have got to realise is I'm picking up many years of neglect between the neighbours of the Hop Farm and relationships need time to build and so does trust."