Land sale failings cost the taxpayer tens of millions, report finds

In one of these a site in Wonastow Road, Monmouthshire, was sold for £900,000 in 2012. But the same site was sold on just three years later for £12 million.

The Regeneration Investment Fund for Wales (RIFW) was set up in 2009 as an arms-length Welsh Government body responsible for selling publicly-owned land and using the cash to invest in areas in need of regeneration.

Although the organisation has made an overall profit of £19.2 million through the sale of land, a report into the body by the Welsh Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee found this could have been significantly higher if it was better advised and run.

Among failings found in the report were a site in Lisvane in the north of Cardiff estimated to be worth at least £39 million in housing was sold to a developer for just £1.8 million.

The same developer was also sold a site in Rhoose, near Barry, for less than £3 million, but later sold it on for almost £10.5 million while another area in Abergale, North Wales, was sold off for £100,000. It was later sold on for £1.9 million.

The committee’s chairman Darren Millar called the report’s findings “deeply troubling”.

“The fact that one of the largest sales of publicly owned land in Wales should have generated tens of millions of pounds more for the taxpayer than it did is inexcusable,” he said.

“While the Committee found the concept of RIFW to be innovative, we concluded that it was poorly executed due to fundamental flaws in Welsh Government oversight and governance arrangements and that the fund was poorly served from those appointed and trusted to provide the board with professional advice and expertise.”

Recommendations made by the committee include putting measures in place to ensure board members have the relevant skills and expertise to do their jobs and to deal with concerns as quickly as possible.