Glastonbury farming centre scrapped after Life Factory probe

Somerset Council chief executive Duncan Sharkey formally apologised on Tuesday (December 9) for the mistakes made on the Life Factory project, which saw £2.89m of public money invested in a failed attempt to transform part of the Red Brick Building on Morland Road into community events space, offices, and other facilities.

In response to a probe by auditors Grant Thornton, the council has published a 'lessons learned' report, which highlights the errors associated with the project and recommended how they can be avoided in the future.

This most recent report has also confirmed that a separate project within the Glastonbury town deal has been officially scrapped, with the council seeking to recoup the funding it provided to Red Brick Building Centre Ltd. (RBBCL) to oversee its delivery.

The Glastonbury food and regenerative farming centre would have been delivered on farmland south of Porchestall Drove, between the Sydenham Timber Centre and Bride's Mound (the latter of which is also being regenerated through the town deal).

The centre (which secured planning permission in October 2023) was designed to be "a community-led agro-ecological facility which will enable people to find a place of learning and development, and gain knowledge and experience in producing local food."

When plans were first published in May 2023, the Glastonbury town deal board stated: "Through demonstrations and hands-on learning, people will learn how to work with, rather than against, the land. In doing so, they’ll be helping to improve soil quality, support biodiversity and enhance natural ecosystems.

"As well as producing local food and thereby reducing food miles, other aims of the project include inspiring smallholders, landowners and gardeners to care for the land in harmony with nature; increasing food resilience; and improving the mental and physical well-being of local residents."

The bulk of the site would have been used for agricultural purposes, including crop growing, an apothecary and herb garden, wetlands and a forest school.

A processing barn would have been constructed on site, as well as roundhouses for training, shipping containers to provide kitchens and offices, and a number of poly-tunnels and composting toilets.

Artist's impression of the Glastonbury food and regenerative farming centre on Porchestall Drove in Glastonbury (Image: Orme Architecture)

In addition, new footpaths would have been created under a separate town deal project called the Robert Richards initiative (named after the original chairman of the town deal board), linking the centre to the Life Factory and other town deal projects within the Beckery Village area of Glastonbury.

The 'lessons learned' report, which was published in full on the council's website on Friday (December 12), confirmed that the food and regenerative farming centre project would no longer be going ahead.

A spokesperson said: "A second project linked with the Red Brick Building Centre Ltd. (RBBCL) secured town deal.

"This project utilises a site within RBBCL ownership, and RBBCL is also the grant recipient for this project under a separate grant funding agreement.

"The project is being delivered by RBBCL staff through the Bridies Farm community interest company (CIC), which prepares grant claims and the grant is paid into a RBBCL bank account.

Mural depicting the Red Brick Building in the context of other regeneration projects (Image: Daniel Mumby)

"£1,257,368 was allocated to this project from the Glastonbury town deal
programme.

"As the grant funding agreement is with RBBCL, Somerset Council has
formally terminated this project and sought to reclaim £115,715 allocated for this project.

"There are no issues with the delivery of this project by involved partners and staff; however, the legal owner of the grant funding was RBBCL."

It is currently unclear whether the regenerative farming project can be reviewed under a new delivery partner before the deadline for all town deal funding to be spent passes in late-March 2027.

The council's executive forward plan includes a decision on "reallocation of Glastonbury towns fund grant", which is scheduled to be taken by the executive at its next meeting on January 7, 2026.