This year's PennFest could literally be the biggest one yet if a request to expand is given the go ahead by Chiltern District Council.

Due to incredible demand, festival organisers are hoping to open the gates to twice the amount of people at the three-day family-friendly festival in The Big Park, Horsemoor Lane, this July.

A licensing application was submitted to Chiltern District Council at the beginning of the month by festival director, Nick Billinghurst, to increase the number of festival goers from 5000 to 9999.

The application also asks for permission to extend the hours of live music on Friday to between 2pm and 10.30pm and to keep the music going until 9pm - an extra hour - on Sunday evening.

The festival’s license currently allows them to supply alcohol from 4pm to 10.30pm on Friday, but they hope to change this to between 2pm to 1am and from 11am to 1am on Saturday and Sunday.

In an open letter sent to residents, the organisers told how they were conscious of traffic concerns in the village and outlined plans to run a park and ride coach shuttle service to bring people in from the surrounding areas.

As well as the shuttle coaches, a fleet of 250 taxis will be on call to take people to and from the site and a car share scheme is to be set up.

Visit www.pennfest.net to buy tickets for this year’s festival, which is set to run from July 17 – 19.