T in the Park will have a stunning new home in the grounds of Strathallan Castle, festival chiefs have confirmed.
As was revealed in Wednesday’s Courier, the award-winning music festival will move from its site at Balado after 18 successful years but will remain in Perth and Kinross.
Agreements have been signed to shift the event just 20 miles to a new home ensuring financial benefits remain in the region.
Organisers DF Concerts confirmed the move today, lifting the veil of secrecy that has covered months of negotiations.
There had been speculation about its future as concerns over an oil pipeline beneath the Kinross site refused to go away.
That has now ended and, in 2015, music fans will find the backdrop to their top event is a 19th Century baronial castle, with around 1,000 acres of land.
Confirming the move on Wednesday, festival chiefs said: “T in the Park is moving to a new site at Strathallan Castle from 2015. It’s centrally located in the heart of the beautiful Perthshire countryside, approximately one hour away from both Edinburgh and Glasgow. The festival will take place with an impressive early 19th century castle and 1000 acres of gorgeous woodlands as a stunning backdrop to the music.
“There are good road links with the main route to the north, the A9, just three miles away. As always we’ll be providing a shuttle bus service to the site from around the UK.”
A spokesman added: “We’ve decided to relocate because there were lots of restrictions at Balado with regards to what parts of the site we can use and this made it difficult for us to plan ahead. Strathallan Castle will provide us with many more options for the layout of the site.
“2014 will be the very last year at Kinross and we will be making sure this is the biggest party yet so we can all say bye bye Balado in style.”
The event’s loss to another area could have had huge implications as it is believed to be worth as much as £7 million annually to the Perthshire economy.
It had become apparent that T in the Park would be forced to move from Balado Airfield a popular and easily accessible location due to the presence of a major oil pipeline beneath the ground.
Though present for the 17 years thefestival has been staged at Balado, the Health and Safety Executive had become increasingly vocal on the public threat it posed.
That forced DF Concerts to beginlooking at alternative sites for the event in earnest, sparking months of speculation about its destination.
Various sites are understood to have been assessed, including Drumdownie, between Muthill and Braco, and Gleneagles.Loch Lomond and Stirling were also heavily touted as potential new homes, though Perth and Kinross Council had always appeared steadfast in its belief that the event would remain in the region.
The new venue at Strathallan Castle is something of a rural idyll, but retains a central location.
TheCourier has seen legal letters sent to residents by DF Concerts seeking to pave the way for the move.They seek meetings between locals, the organisers and the landowner to discuss the event’s arrival.
Though it has been taken to the hearts of many in Kinross-shire, it appears likely that organisers will have to address seriousconcerns from the community.
Auchterarder and District Community Council will discuss the implications of hosting the event at a meeting on Thursday.
There have been concerns raised about the roads infrastructure and its ability to cope, though it is likely that improvements will be made before next year.
Chairman Ewan Mackintosh said: “Until the community council meets to discuss this matter I cannot give an insight into the opinion of the community.”