A WINCHESTER music festival will open a day earlier for a limited number of people this year, but only if they arrive via 'sustainable transport'.

Boomtown was given the go-ahead by the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA)in a bid to reduce the volume of traffic arriving on the Thursday.

Running between Wednesday August 8- Sunday 12 at the Matterley Estate, the festival is offering the limited access to those who are choosing to arrive to the festival via sustainable transport methods.

These include National Express coach, private hire coach, shuttle bus from train station or those with a minimum of three people travelling per car.

The restriction has been designed to encourage use of public transport and minimise the number of cars on the roads.

A spokesman for the festival said: “After six months of working hard on all possible outcomes of the licensing and planning results this is absolutely amazing news!

"Being granted permission means that we can now implement measures to help spread arrivals out over two days and continue our work to reduce the disruption caused to the local community and make entry to the festival easier for everyone.”

The option to add the Wednesday ticket is only available for existing ticket holders.

As previously reported, organisers asked Winchester City Council's licensing committee earlier this year to allow an increase in capacity of 20,000 by 2019.

However, the plans were shelved, and following discussions with Hampshire Constabulary, it was agreed to maintain the current capacity limit of 59,999 with provisions for 5,000 additional staff, artists and their guests, as well as an additional 1,000 tickets to be provided to local residents.

The council also approved the plans for 16,000 attendees to arrive on the Wednesday.

The festival, now in its tenth year, will feature a 2018 UK festival exclusive with the Brit Award-winners Gorillaz.