Former factory site in Glastonbury could be sold by local authority
The Morlands site on Beckery Old Road has been in the hands of Mendip District Council since 1995
Back in 1995, Mendip District Council bought the land which used to be host to an old factory - fast forward to 2022, and they could be selling it off.
That's as the local authority is looking to provide new, alternative, land for the travelling community.
A tannery used to stand on The Morlands site on Beckery Old Road before it relocated to a smaller premises elsewhere in the town.
Since 1995, the site has been occupied by different groups of travellers at different times, which eventually culminated in a high-profile court case in 2017 and 2018.
Despite part of the land still set to be used for travellers' provision, the council has now revealed it intends to sell the site off to a third party, with a second, alternative site to be delivered elsewhere in the town too.
The proposed sale of the land was discussed by the council’s asset management group when it met in confidential session on July 20.
Due to the commercially sensitive nature of the group’s decisions, details were only published ahead of the group’s most recent meeting on Wednesday afternoon (August 24).
The group voted in principle to transfer “a small element of the site” to an unnamed party, with the remainder of the site being “sold for a nominal amount” once a formal valuation had been obtained.
The group will be aiming to discuss details of the planned transfer and sale at its October meeting, with a view to both processes being completed by March 1, 2023 – just one month before the council is replaced by the new unitary authority.
Further details – including the division of the site and the identity of any interested parties for either the transfer or sale – have not been made public since commercial negotiations are still ongoing.
The site is identified within the council’s Local Plan Part II – which was ratified by councillors in December 2021 – for both employment use and provision for travellers, with 0.6 hectares (nearly 1.5 acres) being allocated for future employment.
The site is designed to “address a significant unmet need for pitches” identified within the Local Plan Part I, which was approved in December 2014.
The council – together with Glastonbury Town Council, Somerset County Council and other relevant partners – has formed the joint living spaces panel, which “considers solutions to both temporary and permanent accommodation needs in the town, including travellers and other groups”.
The district council said it still intended to utilise part of the the Morlands site for traveller provision – though it would not specify how much of the site would serve this purpose.
A spokesperson said: “It is still our intention to work with those living at the Morlands site to develop a more formal arrangement in line with the Planning Inspectorate’s decision in Local Plan Part II, and this is under way.
“The heads of terms for the freehold disposal of the two sites are being developed in order that the October meeting of the asset management group can approve the conditions in relation to the disposal.
“As such, at that stage it will be still be confidential until the potential purchaser has agreed the offer and completed.”
In addition to its Local Plan commitments, the council has listed traveller provision as one of 12 projects which could be taken forward under the Glastonbury town deal, which has attracted £23.6M of funding from central government.
The initial project list, published in January 2021, combined traveller provision with different steps to mitigate phosphates in the Beckery area of town to allow other projects to proceed.
By the time the finished business cases were approved by the council’s cabinet in June 2022, this element had changed to “an enabling project”, with the Treasury due to approve the finished business case in the autumn and the money having to be spent in its entirety by 2026.
A spokesperson said: “The ‘enabling project’ within the town deal is to create a separate site within the Glastonbury Town Deal boundary.
“Following confirmation of the funding by the government in the autumn of this year, or submission of the relevant planning application – whichever is sooner the details of the site location will be in the public domain. However, this is clearly a sensitive situation.
“There are a number of complex negotiations to be undertaken over the coming months regarding the Morlands site and so, at this stage it is not possible to provide more details.”