Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:08 pm on 18 May 2022.
There were a range of questions in there. I will try to deal with them as best I can, and as succinctly as I can—I'm looking at the Deputy Presiding Officer. The purchase price was independently certified by our consultant surveyors. You'll be pleased to know that we did not pay above the market value for it. When it comes back to where we are now, it has been leased back to the current owners. They have a range of issues to do to maintain the property, to harvest existing crops and to honour existing bookings on the site.
We are in discussion with the owners of the Green Man Festival about their potential leasing of the site, to give a greater level of certainty for them to invest in the festival, which, as the Member will know, is supported across a range of different sectors. It is one of five major independent festivals that still exist across the UK, with significant economic benefit to Wales, and they have plans and ambitions to be able to expand. We will need to see from them a business plan before going ahead with any further arrangement. We would then be looking at whether to have a short-term lease to manage the entire property for a period of time. But we do need to have further negotiations with them, either to look at the purchase or a further lease arrangement for the site.
The overall ambition is to make sure that one of the most significant economic undertakings in the festival scene, which has a particular group of people who are interested in it for the way that it's run and the values that underpin it as well, has a permanent home in Wales, because there has been significant interest from other festival providers who want to purchase the brand. We're very keen to keep that in Wales, with the significant economic benefit that has already been generated and will be in the future. I'll be more than happy, as those negotiations continue, to further update the Member and indeed other Members who will no doubt have an interest.