I refer to your article on Gilestone Farm at Talybont-on-Usk reported in your edition of June 29.

There are indeed many mysteries and more importantly growing concerns locally and among environmentalists. The BBC News leak has clearly caught both the Green Man Festival organisers and the Welsh Government unawares. To that extent I can understand why specific details on the proposed use of this prime agricultural land with significant wildlife and flooding issues have not been shared. What I cannot understand is why the Government chose this location. This is not just because of its general unsuitability for large public events, but why such a high value investment of tax payers’ money is not being made in areas of Wales where the economic benefits are likely to be higher. I also cannot believe the employment figures relating to the existing Green Man festival at Glanusk: your report claims that Green Man ‘employs 200 people on a full-time basis’. That is surely ‘pie in the sky’.

A report “Valuing our Environment: Economic Impact of the National Parks of Wales” states that our three National Parks support nearly 12,000 jobs, produce total income of £177 million and generate £205 million GDP. The report goes on to say that much of the economic benefit of the Parks occurs outside their boundaries and the Parks therefore support not only their local economies but also the economy of Wales as a whole. Gilestone sits within the Brecon Beacons National Park where the total of direct employment linked to the environment is 2,718 jobs. Indirect employment is 579 and about three quarters (74%) of indirect employment occurs outside the Park. These huge benefits to both local and national employment only happen because of the National Park protected status of our landscapes and wildlife: those are what attract visitors, tourists and investment into our Park.

My fear is that inappropriate development or change of land use at Gilestone will ‘kill the golden goose that lays the golden egg’. This is why it is crucial that the Green Man Festival organisers fully take into account our National Park status, the special local environment and wildlife at Gilestone and the Usk valley here, and the capacity of the local community to accept any more visitors, traffic and potential disturbance. Heaven forbid the report on the local Community Council website “Some events will be between 1 and 3 thousand attendees”

If Green Man Festival organisers are starting to work up their ideas for the farm, then I urge them to find out about the special almost unique circumstances at Gilestone and make plans accordingly. If those plans are fully based on the principles of environmental capacity and sustainability and developed in conjunction with the local community, there will be a saving of time, effort and money in the long term, and we then can all perhaps welcome them to our community.

However, if the plans for Gilestone are clearly not ones that conform to these criteria then the community will vigorously oppose them.