Taxpayers are forking out £6,000 a year for an empty office in Pembroke Dock - and have to keep paying for another seven years.

Simon Hart MP used the Freedom of Information Act to discover that Natural Resources Wales signed a 125-year lease in 2004 to rent Llanion House from Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.

But the ghost office is mothballed and nobody works there. Under the terms of the lease, the NRW cannot leave until 2024, when another £42,000 will have been spent on rent. The NRW has been trying unsuccesfully to sublet the offices for the past three years.

“The facts in this case beggar belief,” said Mr. Hart. “Who on earth at the NRW thought it was a good idea to sign a 125-year lease? I suppose you could argue that the National Park is also taxpayer-funded so our money is going from one pot to another, but this really is a farce.”