Land once set aside for a new travellers' site in Glastonbury could be turned into a solar farm under new proposals.

Part of the £23.6m Glastonbury town deal, which is funded by central government, was the creation of a new off-road accommodation site for the 'non-bricks and mortar' community in and around the town, providing people with a safe location and enabling other projects within the Beckery area of the town to proceed.

Somerset Council put forward plans in mid-2023 to create a new travellers' site on land north of Porchestall Drove (on council-owned land) using funding from the town deal, comprising 21 temporary transit pitches and 19 permanent pitches.

These plans were scrapped in July 2024 after the site "turned into a lake" twice in the space of one winter, with the council seeking to purchase alternative sites.

Local energy company Avalon Community Energy has now put forward initial proposals for a solar farm on the same site – with more detailed proposals expected to be debated early in the new year.

Under the initial proposals (known as a screening request), around 1.2 hectares of land north of Porchestall Drove will be covered in ground-mounted solar panels – which between them will generate power for just under 500 homes.

New plans for Porchestall Drove (image via planning application)

The land between the new panels and the road will be set aside for biodiversity net gain, with a new access track being put in place at the eastern edge of the site.

Avalon Community Energy has been involved in the Glastonbury town deal since its inception, with £2.8m being committed to delivering clean energy projects across the town – including a ground-mounted solar farm and installing solar panels on the roofs of commercial buildings in the Beckery area.

A spokesman for RenewEV (representing the applicant) said: "As a community-owned asset, the solar farm will generate electricity with any surpluses being recycled back into the community through a community benefit fund.

"It is the client's intention to sell the electricity produced to the local community via a local supply scheme.

"The typical operational lifespan of the solar PV is 30 years. The site will be insured appropriate to industry standards.

"At the end of the life of the project the site will be restored back to its former state.

"The proposal is fully reversible so that any visual impacts are temporary in nature and the land can be restored following relatively minor decommissioning works."

Following the approval of the screening request, Avalon Community Energy is expected to submit a formal planning application in January 2025, with a decision being expected from the council by the summer.

Council deputy leader Liz Leyshon stated in July that town deal funding would be used to purchase alternative land elsewhere in the town for gypsy and traveller accommodation.

She said: "Hopefully, the first piece of land is in the final stages of purchase and then we'll be looking at what we can do there. It's really not easy work, it's fair to say.

"Everybody I speak to in Glastonbury says 'we need a travellers' site', and then they go on to say 'but not here' – and that is, I'm afraid, not specific just to Glastonbury."