Glastonbury's long-running caravan problem boiled over in the council chamber this week as councillors demanded urgent action, warning the town is facing abandoned vans, unsafe dwellings and makeshift storage units lining the outskirts of town.

Somerset councillor Ewan Cameron told the meeting he would be joining environmental health officers on patrol to see the situation for himself.

He said he wanted to understand "some of maybe the blockers to the process" and said officers had already raised concerns about how stretched the system had become.

Somerset councillor Liz Leyshon said the sheer number of vehicles now causing problems across the county was putting pressure on Somerset Council's small team.

She told councillors, "We've just taken away 17 abandoned caravans from across the Somerset area," but said officers had to prove a caravan was unoccupied before anything could be removed. She added that some were being kept "as weekend cottages".

Town councillors said residents were now using caravans as makeshift lock-ups because there was nowhere else to put their belongings.

Cllr Paul Manning said, "A lot of people are using these caravans as a place for storing their goods."

Cllr Jon Cousins said the town needed proper data before it could even begin to get a grip on the problem.

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He told the meeting, "We did talk about getting some sort of census done," saying it was the only way to understand how many caravans were lived in and how many were being used for other purposes.

There were also fresh calls to bring forward a long-discussed "meanwhile site" under the Town Deal as a place for caravans and motorhomes. Cllr Leyshon told members the former coal yard option "is still on the table".

Councillors agreed the situation had become unsustainable and that an urgent count of caravans was needed before any long-term decisions could be taken.

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