Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:48 pm on 24 May 2022.
Llywydd, of course, Green Man Festival has not got £4.25 million at all. What there is is an asset the Welsh Government holds that is worth more than that sum of money and which is, for the short term, leased back to the original owner in order that they can complete the bookings that they have in their tourism hospitality business and to make sure that the crops that have been planted at that farm are harvested this year. From the very beginning, we knew that the businesses plan from those who are responsible for the festival would be delivered to the Welsh Government in June of this year, and that is what we still expect. We are working, Llywydd, with a trusted partner. We are working with a company that the Welsh Government has known and worked alongside over an extended period of time, as it has grown to be the fifth most successful festival of its kind anywhere in the United Kingdom. We hold the land against the business plan and we will continue to scrutinise the business plan to see whether the objectives that the company have discussed with us can be delivered through it. In the meantime, the public has an asset, which it is able to dispose of, either in the way that we hope, by supporting that business to do more, or, if we aren't able to do it in that way, that asset remains and can be realised in other ways.