Green Man: Welsh government spends £4.25m on farm for festival

The Welsh government has confirmed it has spent £4.25m on a farm in Powys that a minister says could secure the future of the Green Man festival.

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething says the government wants to ensure the event has a "permanent home" in Wales.

But he said a deal with the organisation to lease the site is still being negotiated.

The move has prompted calls for a Senedd inquiry over whether the spending is value for money.

Conservative and Plaid Cymru politicians have questioned whether other farmers had a chance to bid.

Green Man is yet to fully state its intentions for the location, in Talybont-on-Usk, which is currently used for holiday accommodation as well being a farm.

After Tory MS James Evans called for the festival to be open about what they wanted to do with the farm, the festival said it had no plans to move from Glanusk Park, near Crickhowell.

He said taxpayers money should be spent elsewhere with the rising cost of living crisis, while Plaid questioned why it had been bought without a business plan from the festival provided first.

Green Man attracted 25,000 people when the annual music and arts festival returned last summer.

BBC Wales previously reported that the company intends to run the site as a farm, and expand its health and sustainability work there.

In the Senedd on Wednesday Mr Gething confirmed for the first time how much the Welsh government spent on the land, which he said was not bought "above market value".

For now it has been leased back to its current owners who have to harvest existing crops and honour existing bookings.

Mr Gething said "further negotiations" have to take place with Green Man, "either to look at the purchase or a further lease arrangement for the site".

The "overall ambition", he said, was to ensure Green Man "has a permanent home in Wales".

The minister said there had been "significant interest from other festival providers who want to purchase the brand".

"We're very keen to keep that in Wales," he said.

The economy minister promised to update the Senedd when it receives a business plan from Green Man.

Plaid Cymru agriculture spokesman Mabon ap Gwynfor said local farmers had complained to him they "hadn't had any opportunity to be part of this process to tender for the farm, for the land, and to be tenants".

Welsh Tory Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said the purchase would be seen as "quite depressing for some farmers, when their own family members are struggling to get their foot on the ladder" and enter the industry.

James Evans, Conservative Member of the Senedd (MS) for Brecon and Radnor said he has referred the issue to the Senedd's public accounts and public administration committee for investigation.

He said residents wanted to know how the farm had been purchased, and said the process "does not seem transparent".

"Why was the WG [Welsh government] so reluctant to make statements to the press on this and it took myself to force a minister through a topical question to come to the Senedd to explain the WG position?

"We have a cost of living crisis that the Welsh government keep telling us about, but they're quite happy to waste £4.25 million on a farm."

Mr ap Gwynfor said: "We know that the Welsh government doesn't have a good record when it comes to buying agricultural land, because we've seen agricultural land being bought by the government turning land that once produced food into commercial forestry.

"So, we need reassurance that this land and this farm will be retained and kept for agricultural purposes, namely producing food."

He added that it was concerning the Welsh government had bought the farm without a business plan from Green Man, "so I do agree that this should be considered by the public accounts committee".

Mr Evans also called for the festival to be "open and transparent about their future".

In response, the festival said: "There are no plans to move the Green Man Festival from Glanusk to Gilestone Farm."

A Senedd committee chairman confirmed he would discuss whether to look further at the land deal.

Mark Isherwood of the public accounts committee said: "These concerns are within the remit of the committee and raise questions around the Welsh government's approach to property management including purpose, value for money and decision making.

"I will be discussing the matter further with the committee to agree an approach to scrutinising these matters next week."