WelshLabour Spending £4.25m to purchase land for a music festival, a festival with just 21,000 visitors how is this money meeting the people’s needs for the other 3.134 million people of Wales
Wales Audit say: We’re here to (A) Assure the people of Wales that public money is being managed well.
(B) Explain how public money is being used and how it meets people’s needs.
@AberdareOnline Twitter
Oct 14
@WalesAudit
Please can you explain the need to purchase Gilestone Farm by the
@WelshGovernment
And confirm to the people of Wales that the public money used for the purchase was being managed well for the purpose? And how does this purchase meet the people’s needs?
Audit Wales / Archwilio Cymru Twitter
@WalesAudit
Replying to
@AberdareOnline
and @WelshGovernment
Thanks for your enquiry. We’ve been taking forward work to understand the circumstances leading up to the purchase. We’ll share our findings with the Senedd PAPAC. It’s for the Welsh Government to decide on any future commercial agreements. At this stage, that isn't our focus.
More questions for Welsh Government to answer in Green Man scandal
Comments from the Green Man Festival managing director have raised further questions about Labour ministers’ purchase of Gilestone Farm.
Speaking to BBC Wales, Fiona Stewart claimed the £4.25m purchase by taxpayers was the Labour Government’s idea. Ms Stewart claimed ministers “came to her” with the proposal, and the festival would have preferred to buy the land themselves.
This contradicts previous comments from Economy Minister Vaughan Gething, who claimed the Welsh Government purchased the farm to secure the festival’s long-term future in Wales, putting pressure on him to clarify its role.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Mid Wales Minister James Evans MS said:
“I am supportive of the long-term future of Green Man. However, public funds must be spent with care and due diligence, so we need proper scrutiny of the Labour Government’s role in purchasing Gilestone Farm.
“The public are not getting the answers they are entitled to, and the whole process is incredibly murky with £4.25m of taxpayer money and the integrity of the Welsh Government on the line. People are rightly demanding answers, and the Welsh Conservatives won’t rest until we get them.”
