Political reporter, Wales News
Getty ImagesA farm originally bought by the Welsh government using taxpayers’ money for an ill-fated festival project has lost £500,000 in value.
Gilestone Farm in Powys was originally bought for £4.75m but plans to help Green Man festival’s owners were abandoned when ospreys started nesting there.
A Senedd committee report has raised “serious concerns” over how the site was acquired, and demanded a review.
The Welsh government said it would “continue to explore potential opportunities for its future use”.
Then-economy minister Vaughan Gething said the government was “delighted” in early 2024 by the arrival of two nesting ospreys at Gilestone Farm.
But the discovery brought to an end to a scheme which could have seen the businesswoman behind Green Man expand to a new site.
Gething, who later had a short stint as first minister during the same year, denied wasting money.
Under the proposals the main music and arts festival would have remained at Crickhowell, but a company set up by Green Man’s director Fiona Stewart wanted to use the farm for other events.
Opposition politicians had criticised the purchase of the farm – with officials entering negotiations to lease it to Ms Stewart – without an initial business plan.
After the discovery of the ospreys, a 750m (2,460ft) restricted zone was advised around the nest itself, which can be viewed live on the internet.
An audit report previously found that using up unspent money by the end of financial year was the “most significant” factor in why the site was bought.
The property is currently leased to a farm on “commercial terms”.
‘Not robust’
In a critical report, the Senedd’s public accounts and administration committee said the decision was taken with a “lack of thorough due diligence”.
Plans were “not sufficiently robust and had not been communicated effectively to the community”, it said.
It added a failure to keep an adequate record of meetings with Green Man officials meant the Senedd was “unable to fully scrutinise and evaluate decisions taken by the Welsh government”.
Decision-makers in the Welsh government were also not provided information about the purchase in a “timely manner”, the report said.
The committee said the “haste” that the government bought the site in may have also inhibited its ability to identify risks around the presence of wildlife “that would affect its proposals for the site, and potentially, its value”.
“This is particularly notable as the site has now been valued at £3.75m, meaning that the Welsh government’s asset has lost half a million pounds in value,” the report said.
Committee chairman Mark Isherwood said: “The arrival of the ospreys on the site was unexpected and it’s acknowledged that the Welsh government has responded positively to this development to preserve their habitat, albeit there was evidence of other protected species being present at the site at the time of purchase.
“However, the future of the site now appears to be very uncertain, with the most recent valuation showing that the asset has decreased in value by £0.5m compared to the purchase price. This is highly regrettable.”
The committee called for a full review of the purchase process and for the Welsh government’s chief civil servant, permanent secretary Andrew Goodall, to “reflect on the significant loss in value to the land and whether this could have been mitigated”.
A Welsh government spokesman said: “Gilestone remains one of the Welsh government’s property assets and is being managed on our behalf as a working farm.
“We continue to explore potential opportunities for its future use, in keeping with our commitment to seek a sustainable outcome that helps local communities thrive.
“We will read the committee’s report with interest and respond in due course.”
