Newsreels

Welsh government defends £4.25m purchase of farm for Green Man festival

Neil Puffett
2 min read

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford has defended the Welsh Government's decision to spend £4.25m on a piece of land for the Green Man festival.

The Welsh Government has previously said that the purchase of Gilestone Farm in Powys was intended to ensure Green Man has a "permanent home" in Wales, but the festival organisers have said they have no plans to move from their current home at the Glanusk Estate near Crickhowell.

The festival is understood to want to use the farm for sustainable farming and local food production but no business plan has yet been submitted to the Welsh Government by the festival's organisers and will not be provided until next month.

Speaking in the Welsh Senedd in response to questioning by Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies, Drakeford said those running the festival believe that they can do more to contribute to the economy of that part of Wales, "building on the success of their business".

"To do that they need more space in which to be able to develop those further possibilities. That's what lies behind the arrangements," he said.

Drakeford said that in the short term the farm will be leased back to the original owner in order that they can complete the bookings that they have in their tourism hospitality business and to make sure that the crops that have been planted are harvested this year.

"From the very beginning, we knew that the businesses plan from those who are responsible for the festival would be delivered to the Welsh Government in June of this year, and that is what we still expect," Drakeford added. 

"We are working with a trusted partner. We are working with a company that the Welsh Government has known and worked alongside over an extended period of time, as it has grown to be the fifth most successful festival of its kind anywhere in the United Kingdom. 

"We hold the land against the business plan and we will continue to scrutinise the business plan to see whether the objectives that the company have discussed with us can be delivered through it."