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A council hopes to buy a valleys retail park despite fears it is "not a priority" during the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year plans were launched to turn Ebbw Vale's Festival Park shopping centre into a tourist attraction.

Now Blaenau Gwent Council hopes to try and purchase the site from developers to secure its future.

But Labour councillors have objected, saying it was "too much of a risk" during the pandemic.

The shopping centre, which was the site of the final UK Garden Festival in 1999, was bought by London-based investor GWM Capital last February.

Last year they announced plans to turn it into an outdoor activity centre - with climbing walls and mountain biking - as well as a tourist attraction with hotels.

But several stores have since closed and it is understood the site is now being sold, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

During a closed meeting, deputy council leader Dai Davies said the council has agreed "to continue commercial discussions to acquire the site and developing it for the future".

He said plans for the site could include business units and housing.

Mr Davies said the council would be working with the Welsh Government to try and secure the future of the "vital strategic site".

"Our clear objective when assessing any commercial opportunity is to provide value for money and not put council budgets and public finance at risk," he said.

Labour councillors objected to the plans saying there had been a lack of public consultation and the project was "underpinned by too many assumptions".

Steve Thomas, Labour group leader, said councillors were angry and it was a "disgrace" that there had been no consultation with people living near the site.

"There are far more pressing issues for the council to concentrate on, particularly in the current circumstances when there is likely to be a financial downturn following the pandemic," he said.

"We also felt that financial assumptions within the report were overly optimistic and feel that there is a real danger of a heavy financial burden falling on the council taxpayer to stump up the cost."