The dates for a festival which aims to bring in thousands of people and more than £1 million of investment have been announced by one of its main collaborators.

Wayne Hemingway, who is supporting the festival as part of his plans to regenerate the south beach area of Lowestoft with his company HemingwayDesigns, said the festival will go ahead on the closest weekend to midsummer, the weekend of June 22 and 23, 2019.

Mr Hemingway is collaborating with Waveney District Council for the event which will see a 24 hour festival come to Lowestoft's south beach.

He said: 'We are all really excited about it. It is going to be impactful and it will be nationally significant and there won't be anything else like it.

'It will be inclusive and it is being designed for everybody and it will have things for kids and older people.

'This has got the potential and the ability to be more impactful than anything and there is so much fresh thinking and it is so engaging that we are really excited about it.'

He added: 'It will draw thousands of people who haven't been to Lowestoft before or who haven't been her in a long time and they will see it in a fresh light.'

Genevieve Christie, director of Flipside Festival, who is working on the First Light Festival project as well, said: 'It is about really exploiting the place and creating a sense of place and to see what the beach can give the festival.

'It really links into people engaging with their biggest asset of the town, revelling in it and looking at it afresh.

Jayne Knight, arts and development manager at Suffolk County Council, added: 'This festival will be of Lowestoft, and all of the festivals that HemingwayDesigns do are of the place and this is absolutely rooted in Lowestoft and be a unique event that you can only come to Lowestoft to experience.'

Kerry Blair, head of operations and facilities at Waveney District Council, said: 'There is starting to be a bit of confidence and a bit of buzz about town.

'I see some really exciting things happening in Lowestoft and this festival is going to give people the chance to experience what we experience on a daily basis.'