A CONTROVERSIAL £600,000 purchase of a car park that was completed “behind the backs” of elected members has been defended by Ceredigion County Council after councillors requested a full report into what happened.

Ceredigion County Council bought the Fairfield car park - which it was then leasing on a peppercorn rent until 2053 - for £600,000 following 12 months of negotiations with the owners and the first that elected councillors heard about it was when it was reported in this newspaper.

Councillors Elaine Evans, Euros Davies and Elizabeth Evans all raised concerns about the decision – which was taken by council chiefs during the pre-election purdah period – and called for “greater transparency into the matter” and a full report to be put together to give members answers.

That report was presented to members of the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 19 December.

The council report said the authority to purchase the property was given in March 2022 by chief executive Eifion Evans after the owners contacted the council in March 2021 to say they had received a private bid.

Negotiations were then “stepped up”, the report said, and the “price reflected the value of the income, the importance of the site to the council and the town, the future development potential of the site.”

The report added that: “The request and business case were initially discussed at officer level. This is normal. The purchase was also discussed with Cabinet members.

“Members were given the specific details around the business case to support the purchase of the land at Feidr Fair and agreed the need for confidentiality before reporting the details.”

The report said that the decision was pushed through in March to take advantage of Welsh Government funding as part of the Transforming Towns programme for Cardigan.

Justifying the purchase, the council report says that “the loss of car parking close to town would undermine efforts to regenerate the town and tackle the impact of economic decline.”

“The site also provides an important pick-up and drop-off area for Ysgol Gynradd Aberteifi, with no obvious alternatives if the site was lost,” the report adds.

Figures also show that the car park brought in more than £68,000 in parking ticket income in the year before the pandemic - a figure that the council suggest would mean recouping their money in a little under nine years.

In 2021, the report says, the previous owners became “aware of historic work (swimming pool and grounds, road widening and pavements) that appears to encroach on the land leased from him.”

“This meant that it was important to secure the site to maintain the car park to support the town and the school, to secure current income and to secure future development potential rather than risk losing the site,” the report adds.