Green Man couldn't afford Powys site, says Welsh government

Green Man festival had to rely on Welsh ministers to buy a farm on its behalf because the owners had "insufficient funds", government officials say.

With events hit by Covid, a civil servant said it was "unbelievably challenging to raise funds on the private market".

Ministers spent £4.25m on buying Gilestone Farm in Powys to help develop the wider Green Man business.

Questions have been asked why it was bought without a full business plan.

An outline business plan was submitted to the government in October 2021 and a full business plan presented at the end of June.

Green Man festival is one of five large outdoor independent festivals in the UK.

Held for 20 years at the Glan Usk estate in Powys, the festival attracts over 25,000 visitors annually and is estimated to generate over £10m a year to the region's economy.

The festival is not expected to move from Glan Usk to the new site.

During a Senedd committee hearing, Plaid Cymru MS Rhys ab Owen asked Welsh government officials: "Is it usual practice to spend over £4m before having a detailed business plan?"

Andrew Slade, director general of the government's economy department, said an "outline case" was necessary but that it was "perfectly possible, feasible, legal, proper…for government to engage in property purchases where we think that is going to deliver on Welsh government's policy delivery objectives."

"It's not the first time we've done something of this sort," Mr Slade added.

Mr ab Owen earlier accused Mr Slade of using "a lot of buzzwords" but not providing clarity as to the "purpose of buying Gilestone Farm."

Mr Slade said it was about "the wider business and development of the wider Green Man business", adding it would include sustainable development work, farming activities and a "range of other things that would allow them to keep the operation in Wales."

Labour MS Mike Hedges asked why Green Man did not buy the farm itself: "That would've cut out the middle man."

Mr Slade replied that the festival had "insufficient funds to do that themselves" with either "not enough money to go ahead or the possibility of borrowing to go ahead to get the property needed to develop the business".

"If our due diligence discovers that, unexpectedly, Green Man has the ability to fund all of this and do it off their own bat then there's no need for Welsh government to be involved.

"But that's not the basis on which we've had discussions over many years," he added.

Fellow civil servant Jason Thomas, director of the government's culture department, said: "At the time, February, when we were looking at all of this, for somebody running an incredibly large event, [it was] unbelievably challenging to raise funds on the private market.

"The event sector - absolutely decimated by Covid - even raising things like commercial insurance to protect you for an event was unbelievably difficult."

He said the Welsh government felt "there was overwhelming merit in doing everything we could to retain them in Wales".

Swansea East MS Mike Hedges asked how much money Glastonbury and Notting Hill Carnival got from the Westminster government.

Officials said they would have to find out. Mr Hedges told them it was "not unadjacent to zero".

Tory MS Natasha Asghar asked why Gilestone Farm had been valued at £3.25m in February 2020 and £4.325m earlier this year.

Mr Slade replied that land value had "spiked very significantly - across the area as a whole it went up by a fifth in the succeeding 18 months or so".

He said added that "further developments on the site to develop the business" which made it more valuable.

The Welsh government says it undergoing "full due diligence and assessment" on the Green Man business plan, submitted by business owner Fiona Stewart on 29 June 2022.

If the plan is rejected, the Welsh government aims to sell or rent Gilestone Farm.

Mr Slade told the committee he was "confident" it would retrieve "most if not all of the value back on the purchase and maybe more" if the project fell through.

Ms Asghar also said a letter had been shared with the committee from a man who said he had "ownership rights on sports...on the land and the property itself".

Mr Slade said they were aware of it when the purchase was made and they are in discussions with him. "Rights of this sort apply on many properties, especially in rural areas and over large areas of land".

He said it might be the case if the brand was used for sporting events in the future more money could be spent on sporting events, but Mr Slade said it was "subject to negotiation".

In written evidence published ahead of the committee meeting, the Welsh government said it has been in discussion since 2019 about the "need for Green Man to identify and establish a permanent base in Wales".

Green Man had received "numerous approaches by various corporations to buy the brand in which case it could end up in moving from Wales", according to the government.

Supporting Green Man to this site "would secure its future in Wales", the document said.

Green Man is said to have submitted an "outline business plan" in October 2021 and notified the Welsh government of the potential upcoming sale of Gilestone Farm in February 2022.

The government said it paid £100,000 less than the farm's market value, assessed by the property company Knight Frank - a figure confirmed to BBC Wales.

The property has been leased back to the previous owner until the end of October 2022 "at a peppercorn rent in order to maintain and manage the property, harvest existing crops and honour existing [event] bookings."

"The aim of the plan," the government said, "is to provide the rationale and basis upon which the expanded activities and related business activities (food and drink and tourism) and retained agricultural uses will be financed, operated and expanded in due course.

"Green Man have provided assurances that the land would continue to be farmed and information on these plans has been included in the full business plan," it said.

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, said before the hearing: "Many people trying to get into the agriculture business will look on with dismay as Welsh government buy up a productive farm which most farmers could only dream of."

Plaid Cymru's agriculture spokesman Mabon ap Gwynfor said: "It seems that a business plan is being created retrospectively to fit the purchase of the land. This is completely at odds with what others have to do when applying for government assistance."

Fiona Stewart was asked to comment ahead of Wednesday's hearing.