Mr Carr said: “After months of hard work, we are very pleased in the calibre of acts that have agreed to play the first event, and we are sure the festival is going to be a great success and spring board for local talent now and in the future.

“We now have also just gained the support of the West Kirby Chamber of Commerce, with other local businesses in Heswall and Irby now starting to realise the vast benefits the festival will bring to the local area.” Currently, festival-goers will be able to camp on the night of Friday, May 27, with live music from 1pm-12am on May 28 and campers staying until Sunday afternoon.

Merseyside Police had originally made representations to the council that loud music could “recklessly disturb” a pair of “regularly breeding” barn owls at the site – an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

But before the council’s licensing committee met to consider the application for the event, officers withdrew their representations over the love birds, and said they would not object if some of their criteria were met.

Cllr Pat Williams, who chaired the licensing committee which gave the event the green light, said it had been a difficult decision, but she was confident they made the correct choice.

However, she said they would be keeping a careful watch on how the festival organisers manage the event.

FOR the full line-up and details of the event, see www.sunsetfestival.co.uk/site/lineup/