Members of the Glastonbury town deal board have offered their "deepest condolences" after the wife of a local businessman employed on one of its regeneration projects 'took her own life'.

Jonathan Wilkins, who runs the Wilkins Safety Group near Langport, has been working on the regeneration of the Red Brick Building off the A39 Street Road since 2023.

Mr Wilkins told a Somerset Council meeting on Wednesday (March 26) that his wife of 35 years had taken her own life five days earlier (March 21) due to the stress he had experienced on the troubled project.

The Glastonbury town deal board, which brings together various bodies associated with regenerating the town, has now issued a formal statement to express its sympathy towards Mr Wilkins and his family.

Dr Lynne Sedgmore CBE, who chairs the board, said: "We offer our deepest condolences to Mr Wilkins and his family. We continue to empathise with the difficulties being faced by contractors who carried out work on the Red Brick Building, in good faith, and the serious consequences for them of not being paid.

"We have heard the different views within our community and have consistently urged speed to resolve the financial issues, especially payment of contractors. Somerset Council, as the accountable body, paused the Life Factory funding due to significant financial concerns with this project and we supported their decision to commission a forensic audit, which is still ongoing.

"We expected a speedy investigation, with a clear set of recommendations, however this has taken much longer than we anticipated."

The audit by the South West Audit Partnership (SWAP) was commissioned after the project was formally 'paused in June 2024.

The final report is expected to be discussed by the council's audit committee once it has been published.

Ms Sedgemoor continued: "Each Glastonbury town deal project is responsible and accountable for successful delivery in line with its business plan and grant funding agreement. In our role as the advisory board to the ten projects, we have and are continuing to provide support to the Red Brick Building to improve its governance and leadership capabilities.

"We work in partnership with Somerset Council and have stressed that the audit must be concluded urgently, so that its recommendations and actions can be implemented without further delay. We look forward to the results of the audit being made public once completed. We repeat our deep condolences to Mr Wilkins and his family."

Three of the other nine Glastonbury town deal projects are expected to be completed by the end of the current year, with the remainder concluding by the funding deadline of March 2026.