Mole Valley may be only 180 miles from Ystalyfera, but in almost every other respect it is a world away.
One is an affluent commuter district and home to the Surrey Hills area of outstanding natural beauty; the other is a depressed former industrial village in the upper Swansea valley.
That has not stopped Conservative-run Mole Valley council spending £11.5 million on an Asda supermarket in the Labour heartland.
Whether the purchase will prove wise remains to be seen. Professional investors are sceptical. The market was “amazed” at the price the council paid, according to Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, chairman of Olim Property. “No one could believe it,” he said. “It was so much more than a pension fund or any serious investor would
