Concerned villagers have called two separate public meetings after discovering there are plans to stage one of the biggest outdoor music festivals in the history of the South Hams on their doorstep.

Organisers are expecting up to 5,000 people to descend upon a 25-acre site between Blackawton and East Allington for the three day music and arts festival in June.

Neighbouring landowners and villagers have already raised concerns about noise, traffic and other issues around policing the major event if it is allowed to go ahead.

A public meeting is being held at East Allington Village Hall on Wednesday to discuss the festival.

A second separate meeting is going ahead at Blackawton Village hall on the following Tuesday, February 21.

But organisers claim the Golden Down Festival – which still has to win a licence from South Hams Council before it can go ahead – will 'bring great benefits to the area'.

And Tim Massey, who is heading up the consortium of local people behind the festival, said: 'We'd love to give the South Hams economy a real boost and showcase the glories of this area to the wider world.

'This won't be a one-off, we aim to build something that will benefit the South Hams for years to come.'

The organisers are planning to stage the festival on land at Larkham Farm from Friday, June 15, to Sunday, June 17.

The proposed festival site at Pasture Cross, in an area of outstanding natural beauty, will include parking, camping and toilet facilities as well as a stage for a local, national and international line-up of artists and arts events.

Blackawton Parish Council clerk Steve Gale said that organisers had given the councillors and members of the public a run-down on the plans at a parish council meeting this week.

He also said there were concerns that this was the first many people had heard about the festival.

'Clearly what the organisers have not done is talk to people. Some of the neighbours were frankly a bit concerned that a license application had gone in and this was the first they knew about it,' he said.

East Allington Parish Council clerk Jean Turrell said the council had called its public meeting because of local concerns.

She said that the festival was so close to the village that it would be going ahead some 500 metres away from the East Allington's children's play area.

'Obviously there is a lot of concern. There will be 5,000 people and the traffic that goes with that. They are already advertising tickets.

'There is a lot of concern about the way it has been gone about, let alone that it will impact on the villages.'

Mr Massey, who lives in Ashprington, has for the last eight years arranged Nelson Mandela's worldwide charity concerts, including the one in Hyde Park to mark his 90th birthday.

He said: 'People will come to Golden Down precisely it isn't a mass event like Glastonbury or Reading. We are planning a fantastic line-up of local, national and international musicians all in a glorious rural setting with the best of Devon's food, crafts and art to go with it.

'This is a great opportunity to put south Devon on the national stage. Almost every member of the Golden Down team lives here in the South Hams and one of the big reasons for laying on this gathering is to create opportunities for people living in this area.'

Tickets for the festival went on sale from Wednesday at £99 a time for a three-day camping ticket.

Spokesman for the team of organisers Shona Duncan stressed that the festival was one twentieth the size of Glastonbury and she added: 'It's not going to be a huge festival by any means.'

She went on: 'We are hoping that it will attract people from all over the UK.

' We want to make it a real local and national event.'

She said the team had been holding talks with English Nature, the police and county highways experts and have been using the same traffic consultants that the Glastonbury festival organisers use.