Torfaen councillors are being asked to invest £1.7million to transform Greenmeadow Community Farm into one of the ‘premier visitor destinations for families in Gwent’.
If approved the farm would close from Autumn 2022 until Spring 2023 for the work to take place. A 26-page detailed report proposes a wide range of changes to the farm including:
- Building a new structure to link up the two main barns on the farm and create a single two-storey building to house a new coffee shop, bistro, licensed bar, soft play centre, education centre and function rooms.
- A new outdoor play area and zip wire/woodland activity.
The farm would aim to attract more private hire bookings, functions and visits from secondary schools. The forecasts are based on the farm being open to the public for 360 days a year instead of the current 326. Visitors would be able to pay to just enter the soft-play centre and not the farm.
The £1,767,500 investment includes £500,000 that was previously set aside in the capital programme.
COR Transformation Ltd began working with the council in March 2022. A council report says the company has ‘decades of extensive experience in leading and running commercial tourism attractions in the private sector’. They were asked to develop a business case to make the farm ‘operate commercially’ and have now presented a proposal to turn the farm from a £298,365 loss in 2018/19 to a £295,378 profit in 2025/26.
The report forecasts that in 2023/24 the farm would no longer need support from the council’s reserves and by 2025/26 it will be able to start repaying the investment.
Councillors will discuss the report and make a decision on Tuesday 4 October 2022.
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