MOD lease land at Pembrokeshire beauty spot

PEMBROKESHIRE national park members are expected to formalise agreements with the MOD for a lease at a county beauty spot, some seven years after it expired.

At the May 10 National Park Authority meeting members will hear a report on the Stack Rocks and St Govans lease.

The Stack Rocks and St Govan’s sites fall within the ownership of the MOD and comprise part of their Castlemartin operational training range.

The authority manages both sites under a single lease, which expired on March 18, 2016; the authority has continued holding over in possession while negotiating terms for its renewal.

The authority’s direct management of the sites date back to 1974 when the MOD and National Park Authority identified a mutual interest to provide facilities for the increasing numbers of public visitors.

The report for members at the May meeting adds: “As at today’s date we continue to hold over in possession at both sites following the expiry of the contractual lease term in 2016.”

Members will hear a lease renewal was agreed at a 2018 national park meeting, but “for reasons completely outside of our control the MOD were unable to document the lease renewal at that time and have only recently reverted to us confirming their willingness to now do so”.

Back in 2018 it was agreed – amongst other points – on a 21-year lease, at a fixed rent of £1 a year, with a retention of 100 per cent of any on site concession/licence income generated; in 2018 the gross ice cream concession income from both sites was £1,500.

The 2018 terms are now agreed by the MOD, other than it seeking a reduction in the term of the new lease from 21 years down to 10.

“We consider this reduced contractual term to be to our advantage,” the report says.

It adds the MOD has assured the park it now has “a genuine desire to complete the lease renewal in a timely fashion and that there will be no repeat of their delays and inactivity which have led us to this point.”

Members are recommended to approve the lease agreement.