Mendip District Council has granted the Glastonbury Festival a new four-year licence, which will take it up to 2010 with an expanded capacity of 177,500. The 22,500 additional tickets are conditional of being sold in conjunction with coach travel to and from the Festival.

Festival organiser Michael Eavis told BBC News that the licence was "absolutely fantastic". He went on to reveal that Welsh diva Shirley Bassey will perform a rare show at this year's festival.

The 70-year-old singer, who sang some of the Bond films' most memorable theme tunes including Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfinger, will play a set on Sunday.

Eavis also revealed that Damien Rice would headline the acoustic stage along with The Waterboys.

Tickets for Glastonbury go on sale this Sunday, 1 April at 9am.

You can either purchase online here at SeeTickets or through the telephone ticket line - 0870 165 2007 (International Sales +44 115 993 4183) from 9.00am on April 1st.

Please make sure you have the following information available before you apply to purchase tickets.

For each of the people for whom you wish to buy a ticket you will need:

* Their registration number.
* Their last name.

You will also need:

* The debit card details including security code for all UK purchases (or, for overseas international purchase only, the credit card with security code).
* The address, with postcode, to which you would like the tickets delivered.

Please ensure that enough money is in your account to cover the cost of tickets (£145 ticket price + £5 handling charge per ticket and £4 delivery charge per transaction).

Full ticket details are available here