Developers to revamp old tannery

Around 400 jobs will be created and retained

Two developers have signed up to redevelop a former sheepskin factory site in Glastonbury.

Urban Splash and Priority Sites will build offices and other buildings at the new Morlands Enterprise Park, providing 400 jobs.

Work will begin in spring 2007, with business moving on to the site in 2008.

The 31-acre former tannery site has been now been fully cleared. It had been one of the biggest industrial wastelands in the region.

In the 1960s the tannery employed hundreds of workers during the sheepskin boom but when the industry declined, it was left to rot.

The 40-acre site was bought by the South West of England Regional Development Agency three years ago.

Hundreds of artefacts - including sheepskin slippers, toggles, drying machines and a wooden bath - have already been found on the site.

All the discoveries have been catalogued to ensure a complete historical account of the former tannery.