Mark Drakeford has defended the Welsh Government's decision to spend £4.25m on a piece of land for the Green Man festival. It emerged last week that the Welsh Government has bought Gilestone Farm in Powys for £4.25m despite its intended tenant not having provided a business plan.
Economy minister Vaughan Gething has said that the purchase was intended to ensure Green Man has a "permanent home" in Wales, but the festival organisers said they had 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 that will not come until next month.
The matter was raised in the Senedd on Tuesday, May 24, by Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies. He asked First Minister Mark Drakeford: "The economy Minister said that the Welsh Government had spent £4.25 million purchasing a farm in mid Wales, in his words, to secure a permanent home in Wales for the Green Man Festival. The next day, the festival said that there are no plans to move the Green Man Festival from the Glan Usk estate to Gilestone Farm. These two statements are polar opposite. Which is correct, First Minister?"
