This year's NASS Festival, which was due to be held at the Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet later this month, has been cancelled.

The organisers of the four-day festival of music, street art, skate and BMX have pulled the plug on the 2021 event over concerns about the Government changing its Covid safety guidance.

It is planned that the event will take place again at the showground from July 7 to 10 2022, and tickets for this year's events are being automatically rolled over to next year.

In a statement, the organisers said: "Despite our best efforts, and the incredible support we've had from our wider festival family including our artists, athletes, suppliers and partners, running NASS this year has become impossible.

"While the Government has announced an insurance scheme, it doesn't cover us if guidelines around social distancing, etc, change.

"With growing rumours that guidelines for events could change, talk of a lockdown and vaccine passports now due to come in at some point this month instead of October, it's simply too big of a risk for us to try and go ahead.

"Festivals are big, complex beasts to run, with very high upfront costs. If we were to gamble, we run the risk of having to cancel a couple of days beforehand and taking a huge, eight-figure financial hit.

"As an independent business and, after two years of not being able to run NASS, the financial burden this scenario would create is simply too much for us to bear.

"It would not only jeopardise the future of the show, but also put people's livelihoods and jobs in danger.

"Tickets will be automatically rolled over to NASS 2022 which will take place on July 7 to 10.Refunds will be available for those that would prefer, but as before (and we really hate to ask), if you can keep hold of your ticket and support the festival, we'd be hugely grateful.

"For those who didn't have tickets for this year, camping tickets for NASS 2022 will go on sale at 5pm on Friday September 17 from our website.We'll be announcing the line up for NASS 2022 later this year.

"A huge thank you from us to all of you that kept your tickets from 2020 and bought tickets for this year. We know so many of you were looking forward to finally being part of a festival.

"Running NASS is what we love to do. Every single member of our team has worked long days and weekends to try and bring us all back together for an incredible show. We're all really, really gutted that we can't."

The organisers have also said they would be reviewing transport arrangements for 2022, including the possibility of transport being available from Shepton Mallet to the site.

A spokesperson said: "While shuttle busses were due to be in place to transport festival goers from Castle Cary train station, the concern was raised that some form of transport needs to be in place for anyone attending the festival coming from Shepton Mallet.

"We acknowledge this concern and will review it further as part of our evolving traffic management plans for 2022."