Scone set to host major new music festival.

scone palace: Two-day event will fill the void left by decision to cancel T in the Park

The team behind Download, Reading and Wireless have unveiled plans to stage a major new music festival in Perthshire.

The two-day gathering will fill the void left by T in the Park and take place in the grounds of Scone Palace.

The venue is already home to the 30,000 capacity Rewind Scotland festival and could now host another music event for 20,000 people.

Festival Republic – which organised the Glastonbury Festival between 2002 and 2012 – is behind the proposal.

The events giant is also behind next year’s Download, Lollapalooza Berlin, Reading, Wireless and Latitude events, as well as major tour dates by Liam Gallagher.

Festival Republic has applied for a public entertainment licence for an as yet unnamed gathering to be held at Scone Palace on May 25 and 26 2018.

The proposed event will have a maximum capacity of 20,000 music fans each day and would offer two stages, bars and funfair rides.

Organisers are planning a public car parking facility, a pick-up and drop-off point for cars and taxis and a shuttle bus service.

Camping would also form part of the offering.

Initially, Festival Republic is looking for a one-off licence, though it is unknown whether the festival will only take place in 2018, or if the organiser is simply piloting the plan.

The event could fill the gap left in Perthshire by the cancellation of T in the Park, which was abandoned this year in favour of the new TRNSMT event.

Hosted on Glasgow Green, it proved a huge success and will return over two weekends in 2018.

While DF concerts have refused to rule out a return to “T” – and have suggested there remains scope for a fresh but smaller camping festival in Scotland – boss Geoff Ellis has made it clear it could never return in its old guise.

Festival Republic is run by Melvin Benn, who turned troubleshooter to assist with the operation of the final T in the Park, held at Strathallan Castle in 2016.

He was asked to come on board by Mr Ellis to make improvements to the troubled event.

Benn has been credited with making that event a success, though DF thereafter chose to pull the plug on the behemoth festival.

Perth and Kinross councillors will consider the Scone Palace application at a meeting of the council’s licensing committee on Thursday.

Council officers have said organisers will have to prepare a detailed management plan prior to the event to address key issues and ensure a safe event, in consultation with Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue and the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Maximum attendance each day would be 25,000 – including ticket sales, artists, crews, traders and guests – while ticket sales should not exceed 20,000 per day.

A spokeswoman for Scone Palace said: “We can confirm that Festival Republic has applied to host an event at Scone Palace to be held in May 2018. At this stage we have no further comment.”

We can confirm that Festival Republic has applied to host an event at Scone Palace

Organisers hope to get the go-ahead for a major new festival at the end of May.