A Glastonbury councillor has called for urgent action to deal with the "unprecedented challenge" of roadside caravans parked up in the town.

Councillor Susanna Hart, one of two Glastonbury division members on Somerset Council, claimed at a full council meeting on Wednesday (March 26) that the town's ratio of regular homes to caravans was "23 times higher than Bristol".

She said the council had "failed to deliver a viable solution" over a number of years, with no permanent traveller site being identified and existing enforcement activity proving to be ineffective.

The council responded that it was working on the problem as part of the creation of its new Local Plan and would look at ways to step up enforcement activity.

Ms Hart – a member of the Conservative opposition group – made her comments when the full council met at the Canalside conference venue in Bridgwater on Wednesday afternoon (March 26).

She said: "Glastonbury is facing an unprecedented challenge with roadside caravans, with more than 300 vans now parked on roadsides in and around the town.

"To put this in perspective, Glastonbury has just 4,000 properties, meaning the ratio of vans to homes is 23 times higher than even Bristol, which has 650 vans but more than 200,000 properties.

"There is no other town in Somerset – or indeed the entire country – experiencing this scale of the issue. Despite this, Somerset Council has failed to deliver a viable solution.

"More than two years ago, £108,000 was earmarked for gypsy and traveller site provision, yet no site has been established.

"The enabling project within the Glastonbury town deal is not, and cannot be, considered a sufficient solution to this problem. This situation is unsustainable, and Somerset Council can no longer ignore it."

The Glastonbury town deal originally included a commitment to providing new permanent and temporary travellers' pitches on Porchestall Drove, creating accommodation for the 'non-bricks and mortar' community and allowing other projects within the Beckery area of the town to move forward.

The council scrapped these plans in July 2024 after the site "turned into a lake" twice in the space of one winter and has been seeking alternative sites – with the land at Porchestall Drove now being earmarked for a solar farm.

Ms Hart continued: "Will the £108,000 already earmarked for traveller site provision be spent this year to establish a suitable site in or near Glastonbury – without further delays or excuses?

"Will the public spaces protection order (PSPO), passed unanimously by Mendip District Council in September 2022 as part of what was described as 'a suite of solutions to this problem' to manage the situation, be renewed at the earliest opportunity? I have been asking for this way before I stood for this council, and I would like to happen before I end up in my grave."

The PSPO in question applies to the entirety of Glastonbury, along with Street and the majority of the western end of the former Mendip district, stopping at the borders of Shepton Mallet and Wells.

It is intended to further deter encampments which are already unlawful – namely those overnight on public highways, those trespassing on publicly-owned or -managed land, or those which stay in council-owned car parks.

The PSPO changes unlawful encampments from a civil matter to a criminal offence, with any encampment not deemed to be "reasonable, necessary or proportionate" or "having a reasonable excuse" being potentially subject to action in the courts.

This is one of many measures being pursued by the Glastonbury Unauthorised Encampment Multi-Agency Group (MAG), along with double-yellow lines on Wellhouse Lane, boulders and bunds on Stone Down Lane near Glastonbury Tor, and the delivery of a multi-user path on Bretenoux Road.

Somerset Council deputy leader Liz Leyshon voted in favour of the PSPO when serving as a Mendip district councillor – a decision which saw her and her Liberal Democrat colleagues branded "fascists" by members of the traveller community.

Ms Leyshon – who represents the neighbouring Street division – responded to Ms Hart's question by stating: "You and I know a great deal about this subject, and have discussed it endlessly since I was elected.

"A recent application for funds from this council will help us develop a pan-Somerset approach for stopover, transit and permanent sites for those with the protected characteristic of Gypsy/ Roma traveller, as well as others – including many from the Glastonbury roadside community.

"As we progress towards a Local Plan for Somerset, this work will become increasingly significant.

"The reserve of £108,000, which was inherited from Somerset West and Taunton Council, is now integrated into our updated reserves and has been specifically set aside for gypsy and traveller sites, rather than the non-bricks and mortar or van-dwellers that we known in Glastonbury.

"The most recent count – and we do have a count every fortnight – was approximately 150 vans and caravans on the roadside, with an estimated 300 people living either on the roadside or on council-owned or private land."

Much of the discussions around traveller provision in Glastonbury has revolved around the Morlands site on Beckery Old Road, whose occupation by travellers resulted in high-profile court cases in 2017 and 2018.

The site was identified within the Mendip Local Plan Part II (which was approved in December 2021) for delivering both employment use and provision for travellers – with the district council confirming in August 2022 that it intended to sell off part of the site for development.

Ms Leyshon confirmed: "The Morlands site has been divided into two sections. The first section has been sold to the Beckery Island Regeneration Trust, and they have commenced work on what will be their primary car park.

"The trust has completed the fence to separate this from the second, larger section, which is in the process of being transferred to a community land trust as a site for the development of a permanent, off-road living space.

"Our lawyer is working to complete this transfer as soon as possible with appropriate conditions."

The Beckery Island Regeneration Trust is currently in the early stages of regenerating the Baily's Buildings under a separate project within the Glastonbury town deal, bringing the historic buildings back into use by 2026 for a range of commercial and community uses.

Turning to the PSPO, Ms Leyshon blamed the lack of enforcement work on the transition to the new unitary council and the resulting need to deal with its parlous financial state.

She said: "It is regrettable that after a great deal of work by Mendip's officers, working with the police, that that decision we took was very swiftly followed by vesting day and the immense amount of work that had to be prioritised to ensure the safe and legal operation of Somerset Council.

"Since vesting day, as we both know, the issues in Glastonbury have become greater still, with the impact of the housing crisis that we see across the country."

Ms Leyshon said she had visited Glastonbury with Councillor Mike Rigby, portfolio holder for economic development, planning and assets, to give him an idea of the scale of the problem.

Mr Rigby was unable to attend the council meeting due to ill health, but provided a written statement to Ms Hart which was read out in his absence.

He said: "I will work with my executive colleagues to look again at the potential for that PSPO on overnight stays on the highway.

"I will also continue my work as a member of the Glastonbury town deal board with regard to the enabling project – where one piece of land has been purchased recently and is now clear of incursions, allowing for surveys and the preparation of a planning application. It is also regrettable that additional land out of the flood zone has not been secured."

 Mr Rigby (who represents the Lydeard division near Taunton) said he was willing to include any additional land within the enabling project if Glastonbury Town Council could bring options to its attention.

He added: "We have spent many hundreds of thousands of pounds since 2016 on creating permanent barriers to overnight parking and on evictions, both on the roadside and on council-owned land in Glastonbury.

"We would all agree, I'm sure, that we would prefer to see public money spent on solutions to living spaced needed, where people can live safely and contribute to society.

"If we can secure land to create off-road sites for people currently on the roadside, we will then create a vacancy on the roadside unless we can undertake further expensive work to create additional permanent barriers on the roadside."