Boomtown to submit planning application for five-year permission

A message from

Emily Bell

Director of Strategic Communications at TURLEY on behalf of the Boomtown Festival Company.

We are writing to you on behalf of Boomtown to update you that the festival will be submitting a Section 73 planning application (allows for modifications to a development that has already been granted planning approval), to the South Downs National Park for a five-year planning permission. This follows a resolution to grant a one-year approval for the August 2025 festival.

As you’ll know, Boomtown is an internationally recognised music, arts and cultural festival that has called the Matterley Estate home since 2011.

Boomtown’s vision is to continue to deliver a world-class event that celebrates creativity while respecting and enhancing the natural beauty of the South Downs National Park. As a temporary resident of this stunning South Downs National Park, Boomtown has both a duty and a passion for preserving its special character.

The planning application seeks a five-year planning permission for the festival, which would provide certainty for the event, the local community, and the Park Authority. A five-year permission will ensure we can make longer-term investments in environmental protection including a 30-year commitment to improving biodiversity, sustainability, and the local community, delivering greater overall benefits.

Since the one-year approval was granted in May 2025, for the festival held in August 2025, additional surveys have been undertaken and more detailed evidence incorporated with stronger commitments around sustainability, biodiversity and habitat creation, environmental management, and green transport.

Boomtown will continue to work in close partnership with the Park Authority, Winchester City Council, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, parish councils and our neighbours to ensure the festival continues to deliver positive outcomes for people, nature and place. Oversight would be maintained through annual reporting and ongoing liaison, providing ongoing assurance.