Councillors decide the Thruxton air festival's drink and music licence on Wednesday, after 26 residents objected. The ground firework finale is already off.
Three councillors will decide on Wednesday 26 August whether the new Hampshire Air Festival at Thruxton gets a licence to sell alcohol and put on music, after 26 residents objected. (Test Valley Borough Council licensing sub-committee agenda, 26 August 2026)
The hearing starts at 10.00am in Conference Room 1 at Beech Hurst, the council’s Weyhill Road offices in Andover. It is a public meeting.
The application is not for a one-off. Montserrat Events and Festivals Limited has asked for a permanent premises licence covering one weekend each September, year after year, at Thruxton Race Circuit and Aerodrome, SP11 8PN. (Officer report to the sub-committee, 26 August 2026)
What the licence would actually allow
The application covers live music, recorded music, performance of dance, and the sale of alcohol for drinking on and off the site. The hours applied for are:
- Friday 18:00 to 23:00
- Saturday 11:00 to 23:00
- Sunday 11:00 to 20:00
This year that means Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September. The public show days are Saturday 12 and Sunday 13; the Friday evening covers campers, who can book pitches from Friday until noon on the Monday.
The officer report is explicit that a grant would not open the gate to anything else. It “would not permit any other event to take place at the site each year”, though it would not stop separate applications or temporary event notices later. The report also records that the amended application dropped a second event, the Proms and Tea Jazz and Symphoria Experience, which had been in the original March submission.
The council cannot stop the flying
This is the part most likely to surprise objectors, and the report puts it bluntly. The council “has no jurisdiction over the aircraft flying in the air displays” under the Licensing Act 2003. The Civil Aviation Authority is the licensing body for air displays, and it has already granted permission for these ones.
The report warns what would happen if the sub-committee tried to restrict the event by ruling on matters covered by that CAA permission. It would be acting ultra vires, beyond its legal powers, and open to legal challenge.
Members can only weigh the drinking, the music and the dancing. They can weigh those only against the four licensing objectives: preventing crime and disorder, public safety, preventing public nuisance, and protecting children from harm.
Who objected, and who did not
Representations closed at 23:59 on Friday 31 July. The report breaks them down:
- 27 residents made representations the council counted as relevant, 26 of them objecting, one of whom also runs a large business in the area.
- Two residents wrote in support, one of which was counted as relevant.
- One objector was also acting for the parochial church council of a local church, objecting both in their own right and for the church.
- One objector was also a parish council representative, objecting in their own right, and a second parish council made representations separately.
- Ten of the residents wrote as couples or pairs from five addresses.
Among the official consultees, Hampshire Constabulary has no objection, provided conditions agreed with the applicant are attached. Hampshire Fire and Rescue has no objection. The council’s planning service commented, but the report says those comments are not relevant to the licensing objectives and are being handled separately.
One police condition sets the scale of the thing. The licence would authorise licensable activity for a maximum of 14,999 people, counting ticket holders, performers, guests and staff.
The other conditions the police agreed with the applicant include:
- an initial event management plan 60 days before each event, and a final version 28 days before
- no glass bottles or glass drinking vessels in customer areas
- no drink brought in by the public, except in the dedicated camping zones
- a radio link between every bar and event control
- a signed duty register naming every security worker, available to inspect on request
The noise question
The council’s environmental protection team did not object either, but it did ask for more. Its response was sent on the last day of the consultation. It says roughly 15,000 attendees are expected, and that the entertainment “has the potential to give rise to noise impacts off site and to public nuisance from noise if not managed appropriately”. (Environmental Protection response, 31 July 2026, Annex 3B)
Officers attended a Safety Advisory Group meeting at the aerodrome on 2 July, where a draft noise management plan was presented. It committed to pointing the stage away from the villages of Kimpton, Fyfield and Thruxton, directing sound downwards into the audience, monitoring levels at source, and running a named contact for complaints during the event.
The team’s verdict on that draft is the sharpest line in the papers: the level of detail “is less than we would require for the event”. It wants a licence condition forcing a full noise management plan 90 days before any event. There is no longer 90 days before this one, so it asked for this year’s plan to be finalised at least 30 days beforehand.
The fireworks have already gone
One of the things residents objected to is no longer happening. The organisers have announced on their own website that the ground-based firework finale has been dropped this year, citing the government’s public alert on dry conditions and wildfire risk. (Hampshire Air Festival)
Their statement says they do not consider it responsible “to introduce a large-scale ground firework display while these conditions persist”. The money has been redirected into an expanded drone light show and an enhanced night-show finale. The decision, it says, was made “in the interests of the wider community, our neighbours in Kimpton, Thruxton, Fyfield and the surrounding villages, and the countryside we all share”.
The Saturday evening show remains, now billed as pyrotechnic aerial displays, a light show and illuminated drone formations. The noise management plan seen by council officers in July had described fireworks at the end of the event lasting about ten minutes.
Why this went to a hearing at all
Most licence applications never reach a committee. This one did because relevant representations were received, which obliges the council to hold a hearing.
It also took two goes. An application was first submitted on 5 March 2026, but the applicant did not give proper public notice and, the report admits, “the Licensing Team did not pick up this error/ omission at that time”. The application was resubmitted and duly made on 3 July, starting a 28-day consultation the next day.
The report also sets out an awkward piece of context. The environmental health team has received noise complaints about the Thruxton site during this event season. The licensing team has separately had allegations from residents that licensable activity was not properly licensed at some events there this year.
Officers are clear that there is no evidence this applicant was involved in any of that. They say that is “a material consideration” when members decide.
Montserrat Events and Festivals Limited is a new company. It was incorporated on 2 December 2025 and is registered at an address in Fareham. (Companies House, 16886670)
What it means for you
If you want to watch it decided: the sub-committee sits at 10.00am on Wednesday 26 August at Beech Hurst, Weyhill Road, Andover, SP10 3AJ. The agenda and the full reports pack are on the council’s website.
If you live in Kimpton, Thruxton, Fyfield or the surrounding villages: the decision on Wednesday will not change whether aircraft fly, or when. That sits with the CAA, which has already given permission. What members can change is the hours music is allowed, where and how alcohol is sold, and what noise conditions are attached.
The three things members can do: grant the licence as applied for, grant it with modified or additional conditions, or refuse it.
If you disagree with the outcome: any aggrieved party can appeal to the magistrates’ court within 21 days of being told the decision in writing. Separately, once a licence is in force, anyone can apply for a review if they think the licensing objectives are not being met. That is the route to use after an event, rather than before one.
If you are going: tickets, camping and travel details are on the organiser’s site. Camping is booked by the pitch for three nights, from £65 for a tent to £220 for a premier caravan or motorhome pitch with hook-up. Standard camping areas have to be vacated during the flying displays, because they sit under the flight path. No alcohol can be brought in, and no glass.
Roads around the A303 junctions are the pinch point for anything at Thruxton. We keep current closures and diversions on our Andover roadworks and travel page, and other things happening locally on what’s on in Andover.
Applications and decisions at Thruxton also show up in our Andover planning news coverage. Licence applicants and objectors have the right to be heard at the hearing, and a right of appeal afterwards.
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