T in the Park will not go ahead in 2017, organisers have confirmed.
DF Concerts said they wanted to take a year out to address problems which have plagued the festival since it moved to Strathallan Castle two years ago.
The relocation proved controversial with Perth and Kinross Council confirming that the 2015 event was the most complained about in the long-standing music festival’s history.Revellers were left walking for hours along darkened country roads because of confusion over pick-up and drop-off points.
This year, bosses appeared to have got on top of 2015’s traffic woes with a completely revamped management plan.
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27 photos that remind us how amazing TITP could be
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Background: read more on T in the Park here
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In photos: T in the Park 2016
But the success of this summer’s event was overshadowed by the drug-related deaths of three festival goers, including two 17-year-olds who died in the camp site on the first day of the show and a 29-year-old man who was found dead in a Perthshire farm after leaving the festival site.
DF Concerts said the decision to axe next year’s event was not – as recently speculated – to concentrate on a new festival in Glasgow Green.
The company will need to reapply for planning permission if it wants to return to Strathallan in 2018.
“We tried our best”
T in the Park confirmed the move with this statement:
“To the best audience in the world…For over 23 years, T in the Park has been at the heart of Scotland’s music scene – with you, by our side. But for now, sadly, we need to take a break.
“We launched T in the Park with one aim: to give Scottish music fans an unforgettable weekend with their friends enjoying the best acts from around the globe. And to say we achieved this together is an understatement. T in the Park has become one of the best known, biggest and most loved festivals in the world. When we launched back in 1994 there were only two music festivals in the UK – now there are many and T in the Park paved the way for all that have come and gone in Scotland since. We created more than just a festival; we created a family and decades of wonderful memories.
“However, the last couple of years have had their challenges. Against our will, and despite a prolonged fight, we were forced to move from Balado, Kinross in 2015. 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.
“As the build-up to the festival was well under way we were informed by Scottish Government ministers that we would have to apply for full planning permission due to the presence of an unregistered, but protected in law, ospreys nest. The constraints – logistically and financially – that the resulting planning conditions put upon us are simply not workable.
“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, 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.”
