Council bids to revive Glastonbury farming centre project

The £23.6m Glastonbury town deal included a commitment to deliver such a facility 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 £1.3m 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."

Somerset Council formally terminated the farming project in December 2025 following the scandal surrounding the Life Factory project - with the latter remaining the subject of an ongoing police investigation.

The council has now revealed that the project could still be taken forward, with £150,000 being allocated - provided that Red Brick Building Centre Ltd (RBBCL) is not involved.

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

Under the original iteration of the project, 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.

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 numerous town deal projects within the Beckery Village area of Glastonbury.

In late-April, the council appointed Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) as a receiver to secure the farmland, allowing it to be "placed under independent management" while the council retains its legal charge over the land.

The receive will ensure the land is "properly managed and protected", protecting both the council's present position and the asset as a longer-term public investment.

On May 11, the council announced that the project could be potentially resurrected through the re-allocation of £1,408,000 of surplus funding from other projects within the Glastonbury town deal.

Of this, £150,000 has been set aside for the regenerative farming centre, provided that three conditions are met:

• Any land purchased for the project must be transferred out of the ownership of RBBCL to "enable the farm to be a deliverable project"
• Further due diligence must be carried out on the Bridie’s Farm community interest company (CIC) to confirm it is "an acceptable grant recipient"
• If these two conditions are met, a grant funding agreement between the council and Bridies Farm CIC must be put in place before any work begins

Jane Sharp, the council's regeneration specialist covering the former Mendip area, said in her written report: "The decision to reallocate available grant needs to be made as soon as possible to give the grant recipients sufficient time to firm up costs, engage contractors and successfully deliver their builds within the 2026-27 financial year.

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

"Unspent grant must be returned to the government at the end of the town deal programme in March 2028.

"Our aim is to ensure that the available grant is spent to maximise the benefits of this investment in Glastonbury."

The council confirmed on Friday (May 15) that it was "committed to the delivery of the project" and that it was working with RBBCL on its recovery plan to keep the Red Brick Building open.

A spokesperson said: "The original grant funding agreement with RBBCL was terminated in December 2025 after assurance work showed non-delivery and weak financial controls relating to the Life Factory project.

"RBBCL received town deal funding for the farm; this was identified by the SWAP audit as money that was misallocated, and we are working to recover the sums.

The Red Brick Building on Morland Road in Glastonbury (Image: Daniel Mumby)

"We are continuing to take steps to secure the future of the Glastonbury food and regenerative farming centre and are committed to the delivery of the project.

"Senior division members and officers at the council recently met with Red Brick’s emerging tenant recovery group. We wished them well with their endeavours in developing a recovery plan and we await the details.

"We have lodged a claim to recover the funding provided for the Life Factory project, but we have always been clear we will not pursue that claim while Red Brick develops and delivers a viable recovery plan for the organisation."