T In The Park to “take a break” in 2017

Scottish festival T In The Park has announced that it will taking a break in in 2017, citing issues with festival sites as the main reason. The annual music event was due to take place next summer.

The festival has faced numerous challenges in recent years; notably a location-switch away from Balado, Kinross, to new location Strathallan Estate. “This move was a mammoth task for the event and one that was compounded by a series of onerous site restrictions placed upon us as preparations for the event in 2015 took place,” say the organisers in a statement.

The event in 2015 was plighted by traffic issues, congestion in the arena, and long queues for fans waiting to be picked up by festival shuttle buses. Someone also managed to nick an entire ATM from the festival the following year though to be fair, that’s not really anyone’s fault.

T In The Park organisers were in the process of planning 2017’s festival, when they were informed by Scottish Government Ministers that they’d need to apply for full Planning Permission “due to the presence of an unregistered, but protected in law, osprey’s nest,” on the festival site.

“We tried our best to work with the pressures placed upon the site by bringing in an additional team and fixing the first year traffic issues,” add organisers, “but ultimately we’re not in control of the overall site layout and the continued restrictions means that the negative impact on our fans and the limitations placed on their experience is too great. We now need to take stock and take a year out to try to resolve the issues so that we can once again deliver the kind of camping festival you are used to and deserve.”

Read T In The Park’s full statement here.