SIR,

Further to the previous letters.

So Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) has gifted the Meend Farm – all 118 acres with a modernised farm house, a large stone barn and a range of modern farm buildings – to a celebrity couple with no experience of running such a venture before.

This is against its own policy and on an uncompetitive, back door basis.

This is in contrast to the River Cottage venture, run for nearly a decade by an accomplished chef and culinary expert, which is referred to by councillors.

The reports indicate they only require 15 to 18 acres for the venture, with a number of such properties available within the area, each one on a freehold basis.

If they had purchased one of these in a normal manner, it would have allowed them to proceed at their leisure.

The prospect of obtaining this farm for less money must have been too good to be true.

MCC's cabinet member for modernisation, enterprise and communications was apparently unwilling to communicate with his cabinet colleagues about the proposal.

Not even the councillor who covers the Penallt area could be trusted until the night of the decision meeting, giving him no time for a public debate, despite the fact that the secret, single party talks, had been taking place for at least six months.

Why be so secretive? What did they have to hide?

Surely our local councillor could be trusted not to spill the beans too early and give local residents chance to comment.

Instead a few days before the cabinet met to make the decision, a press release from the BBC and MCC was posted on the web.

In last week's Beacon Letters, the comment was made that MCC had not sought additional valuations of the farm, other than the gross under valuation provided by the couple.

Its own sale recently of Quarry Farm House, a house in need of modernisation and of two acres, sold for £331,000 (sited less than one mile from the Meend).

With farmland in Monmouthshire currently reaching between £7,000 and £8,000 an acre, this would value the Meend Farm (without the house and range of buildings with development potential at the site), at least £826,000.

On that basis, valuations of £1.2 million are more likely to be underestimates for the whole. Significantly higher than the figure that this deal was based on.

The council leader himself benefited from a council farm, so he would be well aware of the need for starter farms won on competitive tender basis.

He would also be well aware of the likely value of this farm to the council tax payers of Monmouthshire.

I find it difficult to believe he has gone along with this valuation, which undervalues it by many hundreds of thousands of pounds.

With council finances under real pressure, how can this proposal to go ahead, allowing an already successful couple to bypass all regular procurement procedures when dealing with a public body?

The couple are in a 'win win' situation, purchasing the farm of their dreams at a low price that they have set.

Should the venture succeed or fail, they will still have a substantial asset.

I hope it does not come back to bite us in the future.

I wonder if councillors would have approved the plans if it was their own money they were playing with.

Because the council seem to have broken/ stretched a number of its own policies and national procurement rules can I, through this newspaper, request that Nick Ramsay AM and David Davis MP ask The Welsh Government to investigate this matter and possibly appoint independent external auditors to review how particular councillors have handled it.

Paul Kedward

(Monmouth)