Michael Eavis confirms they want to try out another site with a new event at Longleat

Glastonbury Festival 2016

Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th June 2016
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£228 - SOLD OUT

Daily capacity: 203,000

Glastonbury Festival founder, Michael Eavis, has once again brought up that the much mooted move of the current Festival to a potential new site is not on the cards, at least not for a while. He tells ITV News' Ian Axton in an interview at the Bath & West Show, viewable on their website (here). "We're hanging on for another two of three years at the moment. We are looking to try out another site, just in our year off, and see if it's possible to move it any time in the future."

The West Country farmer fears are that if there's an outbreak of foot or mouth or another farm disease, then they have no where to fall back on, and they do need an alternative for the long term, and makes it clear he wants to have Longleat Safari Park as a potential back-up should the Festival have to relocate.

The farmer is clearly worried about whether or not to move the event, and adds that he also has safety fears, explaining, "It really worries me, it keeps you awake at night, worrying about where to go with this event, because it's so successful now and so huge, and people love it so much. It's just a bit unsafe at the moment."

Eavis reveals he's been talking to Longleat representatives every day, and he hopes that they can come to an agreement with them in the future, although nothing has been agreed so far. The owner of Longleat, Lord Bath, was the first person he contacted about finding a back up site, and he is on board with the suggestion.

"They're quite keen and nice people to talk to to," Eavis says, before adding, "And there's only one landowner up there which is quite handy. I've got 22 landownders to deal with here, which is quite a lot of people to deal with separately."

That certainly makes it attractive to the Glastonbury Festival founder, who also says, "It's the best site in the whole of England. I can see why they built that house there, with the hills, and there's no industrial stuff around there. It's all trees, and forest and rolling hills, and it is the most beautiful site in England. It's got loads of space and more room up there."

He says he wants to move the event there in 2019, once they have a licence, the council, and the police on board. This would suggest that Glastonbury will be held both next year and in 2018, before they try out the new Longleat festival in 2019.

Eavis tells itv news, "I'm talking to Longleat everyday actually, so I hope we can come to agreement with them eventually. We haven’t done so yet, but they are quite keen. I want to move there in 2019, but we have got to get licensing, get the police on board, and all the local councillors at Salisbury District Council. So we have got a long way to go on this one."

The Festival founder is also keen to stress that the Festival's home will always be the fields of his farm and any move would only be for one year. "That's its home, that is probably the best place for it, Pilton is. Worthy Farm is very warm, it's full of atmosphere and character and history as well. But I really do need an alternative site, no doubt about it."

Ticket holders for this summer's Glastonbury Festival are reminded to take part in their future by making sure they apply for an EU Referendum postal or proxy vote. You will find links to the form to postal vote here and proxy voting here. For more information (see the news page here).

In other news his daughter Emily Eavis has denied the rumour that Radiohead would perform at this year's event, suggesting she does hope to have them for next year. She told The Guardian in an interview yesterday, (here), "There's no planned Radiohead gig at the moment. But obviously we would love to have Radiohead back. Personally I'd love to have them play next year but at the moment there's no confirmation, so we'll have to see."

The vast line-up appearing over the five days was announced yesterday and features Muse, Adele, Coldplay, PJ Harvey, Jeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra, Art Garfunkel, Cyndi Lauper, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Last Shadow Puppets, Sigur Ros, Ronnie Spector, Ellie Goulding, Explosions In The Sky, Foals, Beck, LCD Soundsystem, ZZ Top, Disclosure, New Order, Skepta, The 1975, Grimes, Annie Mac, Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music, Underworld, James Blake, Chvrches, Savages, Floating Points, Laura Mvula, Stormzy, Daughter, Little Simz, Vince Staples, John Grant, Band of Horses, Jess Glynne, Carl Cox, Nao, Fatboy Slim, Bring Me The Horizon, NHS Choir, Damon Albarn, Richard Hawley, The Lumineers, Lady Leshurr, Rokia Traore, Guy Garvey, Kamasi Washington, Jack Garratt, AlunaGeorge, Hinds, Ezra Furman, M83, Kurt Vile (solo), Mercury Rev, Gregory Porter, Madness, Wolf Alice, Baaba Maal, Ernest Ranglin, Bastille, Roisin Murphy, Santigold, Years And Years, Dua Lipa, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Bat For Lashes, Protoje, Two Door Cinema Club, Jake Bugg, Mac DeMarco, St Etienne, Blossoms, Of Monsters and more.

To see who is playing where and when see our Glastonbury Festival 2016 line-up page or the pages below:

Pyramid Stage
Other Stage
West Holts Stage
The Park Area
Acoustic Tent
John Peel Stage and Tolpuddle Bar
Silver Hayes Dance Area
Avalon Field
The Glade
Shangri-La (The Naughty Corner)
The Common Area
Block 9
Leftfield
Arcadia
Babylon Bandstand
Beat Hotel
William's Green
Croissant Neuf Stage & Bandstand
The Unfairground
The Bread And Roses
Village Inn
Green Fields
Theatre & Circus, Glebeland
Kidz Field
Pilton Palais (film schedule)