Glastonbury councillors are preparing to knock on doors across the town during September and October in an attempt to hear from residents who do not normally take part in council consultations.

The town council has approved the listening exercise, with councillors set to use the same set of open questions wherever they visit.

The answers will feed into Glastonbury's emerging Town Management Plan, which is intended to identify priorities for the town and consider how local organisations could respond. Residents will be asked what concerns them, what they value about Glastonbury and whether they would like to become involved in future work.

Councillor Jon Cousins said the exercise was about the council "going back to basics". He said councillors already find time to knock on doors during elections and suggested the same approach could be used "to genuinely try and find out what people are concerned about".

He said: "Tonight we've heard a request for people from Glastonbury being able to be involved in the Town Management Plan, and it was the feeling of the working group that perhaps the council itself should just go out and consult in much the same way that councillors find time to go out and consult every four years for an election by door-knocking." He added: "We could perhaps go out and, rather than trying to get re-elected, we could genuinely try and find out what people are concerned about."

Councillor Cousins pointed to a previous exercise involving High Street businesses, which identified worries about the loss of Glastonbury's banks and helped lead to the Last Bank Standing campaign. Although the banks eventually closed, Nationwide later opened a branch in the town.

Councillor Oakden said she had already discussed the new consultation with residents in the Redlands area and received what he described as an "overwhelming" response from people who wanted to take part. She said one resident had thanked councillors for allowing people's voices to be heard because some felt intimidated attending council meetings.

She said: "I think that cuts across a whole wide section of the community that people we don't hear from." Councillor Oakden added that residents had emailed him offering to take surveys around the area and said he believed the exercise was "well worth doing".

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Councillor Emma King backed the consultation but raised concerns about councillors visiting homes on their own. She said there could be hostility towards councillors in the town and suggested members should instead go out in pairs.

Councillors agreed paired visits could be used as part of the exercise. Other ideas discussed included running an information stall at the market, accepting responses online and leaving the questions at homes where nobody answers the door.

A community review carried out in 2024 received 422 responses, with Glastonbury's countryside, history and heritage among the things residents said they valued most. Antisocial behaviour, drugs and homelessness were identified as the principal concerns.

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