VOLUNTEER police will be brought in during a major festival being held at Laverstoke Park Farm.

CarFest, organised by an events company on behalf of Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, will mean 15,000 people descend on the area over the August bank holiday weekend.

The festival, being held at former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter’s farm, will raise money for national charity Children In Need.

But some people living nearby are against the idea, and have expressed concern at various public meetings.

PC Richard Baldwin, beat officer for Overton, said the plan is to provide additional policing for the weekend.

He said: “We felt this necessary due to the adverse publicity being generated about the event and not due to the nature of the event.

“There is no requirement for the actual event to be ‘policed’, as this will be done by on-site security.”

He added: “We will be providing ‘reassurance’ patrols for the adjacent communities.

“I’m pleased to say there’ll be no cost implications for the policing operation as the event is in aid of Children in Need and we’ll be using volunteers from the Special Constabulary, who come at a limited cost to the taxpayer and without draining resources from elsewhere in the district.”

Mr Evans and an entourage have visited Laverstoke Park for his Magnificent Seven tour.

The event involved seven lucky couples bidding to drive seven of “the most beautiful cars in the world”, owned by Mr Evans, having successfully bid for the prize in an auction which generated £1.5million for Children in Need.

Starting from Mr Evans’ home in Berkshire, the winners watched his breakfast show being broadcast live from his back garden.

At Laverstoke, a breakfast was served up for the team who then had a tour of the farm before sampling its ice-creams.

From Laverstoke, the Magnificent Seven made their way to Thruxton, where they met Mr Scheckter.