A service for adults with learning disabilities at Glastonbury's Beckery Resource Centre is to close its doors.

Social Enterprise company Discovery operates the Beckery Day Service at the centre for Somerset County Council. There are centre-based activities and a community-based Coffee Shop. The day service offers people with learning disabilities and autism a: "safe and inclusive environment to develop their skills" .

Discovery has decided to relocate the services to two centres, one in Street, the other in Glastonbury.

When the Beckery centre closes the service will move to a building on Strode Road next to Strode College in Street and the Library in Glastonbury. The day service will join Street Young Peoples Service and will take over part of the second floor following discussions with the YMCA, who currently occupy that part of the building. The YMCA will continue to use the building for their children's service when Discovery are not in the building. Discovery will continue to use the ground floor of the Street building as they do at present.

Discovery says that the Library in Glastonbury will make it easy for the people they support to access "all the amenities" because of its town centre location.

In a letter sent to the parents and carers of service users, Discovery bosses say that the service changes are aimed at "improving how we deliver support during the day".

The letter, sent by the Locality Manager at the Beckery, Ian Hull, explains that the Beckery is an old and tired building which is very uneconomical to run. With the development of the area as an industrial base Mr Hull says: "We feel the people we support deserve better than this site can offer."

Mr Hull added that there will be investment in the Street and Glastonbury locations, and the staff team will remain the same. No firm closure date has been set.

Threats to the Beckery-based service in the past have led to protests from users and ultimately resulted in a refurbishment programme.

Discovery, a social enterprise company run by national provider Dimensions, was set up to manage Somerset County Council's Learning Disabilities Services and has done so since 2016. It has a budget in excess of £30million a year. The transfer was opposed by trade union Unison who said staff had been given inadequate information about the transfer, and staff will receive a share of nearly £700,000 from Somerset County Council in an out of court settlement reached in September.

Anyone affected by the decision can attend a drop-in session to find out more at Glastonbury Library on Wednesday November 6 between 10am and 8pm.