Local taxpayers have lost out on the sale of publicly-owned land on St Georges Road, Abergele, due to “poor oversight” by the Welsh Government, it has been claimed.
The land is one of 15 parcels of publicly-owned land in Wales that were sold for £21m by the Regeneration Investment Fund for Wales (RIFW), which was ultimately controlled by the Welsh Government.
Clwyd West AM Darren has slammed the Welsh Government for allowing the land in Abergele to be purchased for just £100,000 – it was later sold for £1.9m.
Darren said:
“The land on St Georges Road should have realised much more for the public purse and it’s unacceptable that the taxpayer has lost out in this way.
“Poor oversight by the Welsh Government was a factor in this poor deal and it is critical that they learn lessons from what went wrong.
“The report into this by the Public Accounts Committee, which I Chair, said the sales "did not represent good value for money" and that "such a cavalier approach to the disposal of public assets is disturbing". This is certainly the biggest loss to the taxpayer that I've seen in my time as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and I've been chairing it for a good number of years.
“Tax-payers in the area will rightly question why this was allowed to happen.”
Mayor of Abergele Cllr Sam Rowlands and Cllr Tim Rowlands have also hit out at the Welsh Government.
Cllr Sam Rowlands said: “The money that could have been realised from the sale of the land on St Georges Road could have gone a long way to helping the local area. To waste so much money from the public purse is inexcusable.”
Cllr Tim Rowlands said: “The Welsh Government should be doing all it can to ensure value for money, not enabling millions to be thrown away in this way. Such poor oversight by Ministers has cost taxpayers in the area a small fortune.”
Picture Caption: Cllr Tim Rowlands, Darren Millar AM and Cllr Sam Rowlands with the land at St George in the background.