Michael Eavis, the founder and organiser of the Glastonbury festival, has said that the three-day music event is too important to the local economy to be denied a license.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, Eavis revealed that the future of the 38-year-old festival was now safeguarded despite initial plans to stop the event in 2000. Eavis said: "The local economy gets £100m a year. So there's no discussion about not allowing the festival a license any more. They won't stop it now."

Last year, Mendip District Council approved a four-year license for the Glastonbury festival, which is held at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset.