Poor communications admitted on Green Man farm plan

An official working on a controversial plan to lease Powys farm land to Green Man festival has admitted to problems with how the Welsh government worked with councillors.

Negotiations are ongoing to agree a lease for the Gilestone Farm site.

Relations between Talybont-on-Usk Community Council and the Welsh government are said to have "broken-down" over the issue in the past.

On Wednesday a senior official admitted the relationship needed to improve.

Concerns have been raised by the council in the past.

The comments were made in a meeting of the Public Accounts and Administration Committee in the Senedd.

Separately, the civil servant in charge of the Welsh government's economy department also suggested ministers could have been clearer early on that the Green Man festival was not going to move to there.

The organisations of the music festival want to host smaller events at the site.

"I think, going back over this again, we would have been very clear in our communications upfront that this was what was not proposed," Andrew Slade, director general of economy, treasury and constitution, told the Senedd.

Gerwyn Evans, deputy director of Creative Wales, said that as well as "small gatherings" the new operators plan to also farm and use it for "high-end tourism", weddings and corporate events.

"It's not a complete change of what goes on on the site already," he said.

The committee was also told that a "creative hub" was being proposed where people in the sector could "co-locate".

Earlier last month a meeting took place between Talybont-on-Usk council and Welsh government officials.

Minutes said that Mr Evans told the meeting that, as the document put it, he had been "well aware that communications had broken down and he and Welsh government recognised that they had their part to play in the lack of communication and subsequent damaging speculation which had occurred".

Mr Evans denied, when it was put to him by former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, that the council had been ignored.

"I think we've we've been in dialogue with them throughout the process," he said, saying it had been a "difficult conversation" because of "churn" in councillors.

But he added: "I think we can hold our hands up there and say that the relationship with the committee council does need to improve, but we're on the process of doing that now."

"I think that obviously part of the overall picture here is that a lot of this has been played out in the media as well, which has been difficult - there's been a lot of truth and untruth in the media."