Sunday, January 15, 2023
Did Welsh Government spend £4.25m for a giant pond?
The Brecon and Radnor Express reports that land at Gilestone Farm, purchased last year by the Welsh Government for £4.25m to accommodate the Green Man Festival and other events, has flooded, following this week's period of heavy rain.
The paper implies that this flooding is a regular occurrence, which is why concerns are being expressed that the transaction went ahead without a full business plan, with no prior ministerial visits to the site and with no advice taken from the music industry to see if the site was appropriate.
The local community council is concerned that the owners of Green Man Festival could hold large scale events at the property, and also at the plans to host multiple gatherings a year at the site for thousands of people without a proper assessment of the impact of these mass tourism events "on the ecology and environment".
The main questions however, must centre on why so much public money was spent on the land without a proper evaluation of the risks, including flooding, and seemingly without any clear and detailed plan for how the farm will be used. This is not government, it is speculation with other people's money.
The paper implies that this flooding is a regular occurrence, which is why concerns are being expressed that the transaction went ahead without a full business plan, with no prior ministerial visits to the site and with no advice taken from the music industry to see if the site was appropriate.
The local community council is concerned that the owners of Green Man Festival could hold large scale events at the property, and also at the plans to host multiple gatherings a year at the site for thousands of people without a proper assessment of the impact of these mass tourism events "on the ecology and environment".
The main questions however, must centre on why so much public money was spent on the land without a proper evaluation of the risks, including flooding, and seemingly without any clear and detailed plan for how the farm will be used. This is not government, it is speculation with other people's money.
