TRUCK festival in Steventon has been given permission to take an extra 2,499 visitors this year.

Vale of White Horse District Council agreed yesterday morning to let the farmyard festival accommodate 9,999 visitors, up from its previous limit of 7,500.

And for the first time in its 18-year history, festival goers will not get to the site through the narrow roads in Steventon village.

Instead, the festival is planning for all visitors except site traffic to access Hill Farm from Featherbed Lane on Milton Hill.

The extra capacity is the latest bit of good news for Truck after it announced this year’s festival would stretch over three days from July 15 to 17.

Organisers also revealed last week the festival would be headlined by Manic Street Preachers and Catfish and the Bottlemen.

The line-up also includes Mercury Prize-winners Young Fathers, Everything Everything, Circa Waves, Pretty Vicious, Rat Boy and Oxfordshire resident Jack Savoretti.

Manic Street Preachers – James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore – will top the bill on the Saturday. The band are best known for hits Motorcycle Emptiness, Design for Life, and If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next.

They will also be performing tunes from more recent projects Rewind The Film and Futurology.

Catfish and the Bottlemen will grace the main stage on the Friday.

Truck festival was founded by brothers Robin and Joe Bennett, now of the band The Dreaming Spires. It takes it name from its use of a truck trailer for a stage in its early years.