Ceredigion County Council has bought a Lampeter farm valued at £1.85 million with a loan from the Welsh Government.

Secret meetings have been held over recent months over the purchase of a ‘strategic asset’ which the council has not yet disclosed.

However, on Friday morning a story appeared on the BBC with Ceredigion County Council leader Bryan Davies saying the local authority had bought a farm in Lampeter which it plans to convert into an agricultural college

Speaking to the BBC, Cllr Davies said buying the neighbouring 150-acre farm, including outbuildings and a farmhouse, was "crucial" for the delivery of a post-16 course in agriculture which was not currently available in the rural county.

However, there is an agricultural college 25 miles away from the Lampeter farm at Gelli Aur in Carmarthenshire.

Councillors have been sworn to secrecy around the purchase and were due to attend a behind-closed-doors meeting on Friday to discuss the plans.

An online advert for the farm listed an asking price of more than £1.8m.

Cllr Davies would not specify to the BBC how much the council had paid for it, but said it was "the market value".

Ceredigion County Council has not told the general public or the Cambrian News what the plans are for the wider Lampeter campus.

But again, speaking to the BBC, the council said other vocational and skills-based courses would be developed over the next three years and it aimed to provide additional community facilities on the site.

A-level courses would not be provided on the campus, which could not compete with school sixth forms in terms of academic provision, the council added.

Cllr Davies said the campus had "significant potential" and the local authority wanted "to secure a sustainable future for the campus".

He added the vocational courses would enable students to develop the skills required to meet employer needs around the region, with young people able to stay in their communities.

Emlyn Dole, chair of the university's council, said the purchase was an "exciting opportunity" which would strengthen community links and support the rural economy.

A series of secret meetings have been held in recent months by Ceredigion councillors on the planned purchase, but no details have been revealed to the public.

Rightmove lists the property, which is now sold, as a 129 acre dairy farm.

Earlier this year it was announced that Lampeter’s university campus would end undergraduate education at the site.

Since then, University of Wales Trinity St David, which is transferring courses to Carmarthen, has asked people to come up with alternative uses for the campus.

Graduates have issued a plea to reveal what proposals have been mooted after it emerged last month that 26 suggestions have already been made on what should happen to the campus.

Since then, community group Campws Cymuned Llambed/Community Campus Lampeter has come forward with a list of proposals including an integrated health centre, a school of gastronomy, social housing, and a site for a post-16 education centre for the south of the county.