The leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council went "above and beyond" to ensure he had no involvement in his father-in-law's sale of land to the National Trust.

Councillor Kevin Guy said critics had tried to make out his husband's dad Ken Horler was a "greedy farmer" but said he could have taken a bigger £1.1million payout from the previous Tory administration when it wanted to build a park and ride at Bathampton Meadows.

Instead the National Trust bought the 15.6-hectare parcel of New Leaf Farm for "fair market value" using a restricted fund of legacy donations that can only be used for land acquisition.

Mr Guy's husband Steve Horler is a director and owns a 1.75 per cent share of Deepair Ltd, which is majority-owned by his father and had owned the land, but the leader said he had never received a dividend.

BANES Council also transferred its 25-hectare section of Bathampton Meadows to the National Trust for a peppercorn to secure its future in perpetuity after a manifesto pledge from the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Guy, whose company New Leaf Farm Ltd owns holiday cottages next to the land, denied his business would benefit from the deals and said it did not matter who the owner was.

"The land is ridiculously well used anyway," he said. "The holiday homes are booked up because of staycations. Whether it's owned by the National Trust or Steve's company doesn't make a difference. It's the location that makes them nice holiday cottages. Who owns the fields is irrelevant.

"The National Trust aren't going to develop them. Their plan is to keep it as green as possible.

"As a council we're going to work with them to improve the riverline project. Whoever the landowners are would have been involved in that."

The council leader has declared on his register of interests under "any beneficial interest in land located within the council's area" that his husband is one of four directors of Deepair Ltd. The register also states that he is a director of New Leaf Farm Ltd.

Mr Guy said: "I've had a conversation with the chief executive and head lawyer about exactly what I need to declare. They said you need to declare that your husband is the director of this company. That's all I need to do."

Chief executive Will Godfrey gave the go-ahead for the council's asset transfer to proceed in April 2020. It was signed off last March by deputy leader Richard Samuel, the cabinet member for resources, who delegated authority to the head of estates to transfer the asset and it went through last month.

Mr Guy said he deliberately had no interactions with Deepair's sale of the land at New Leaf Farm, adding: "I have nothing to do with my father-in-law's business and neither does my husband.

"There has been zero benefit to me, neither has my husband benefited. He may be a director in the company but it's fully run by his father. This was a deal between Ken and the National Trust.

"The National Trust approached Ken. This isn't a greedy farmer benefiting from his son-in-law being the leader of the council. He sold it for less than market value. If he wanted to benefit from the council he would've done that a few years ago and taken the £1.1million compulsory purchase order from the previous Tory administration. He could have sold it to a developer for more money.

"He's made far less money by selling it to the National Trust and keeping it safe for everybody. That's not taxpayers' money."

The National Trust said the cost of the land could not be revealed for legal reasons but an article on the deal in Private Eye suggested the "fair market value" paid by the charity was around £900,000.

The council approved the community asset transfer of its land at Bathampton Meadows for a peppercorn after concluding that the "long-term permanency of preservation" and "the exceptional nature of the community and environmental benefits… significantly outweigh the loss of the open market consideration".

In March 2020, surveyors gave a restricted value of its land at Bathampton Meadows of £460,000 or an unrestricted value of £915,000. The authority had been receiving an annual rent from a farmer of £3,500.

A decision notice published last March said transferring the land to the National Trust would bring social and economic benefits worth £2.3million over 30 years, with volunteer time adding an extra £327,000, which the council judged would "far exceed not only the restricted but also the unrestricted value of the asset".

Former Conservative councillor Martin Veal was left "perplexed", writing in a letter to the Bath Chronicle: "Even the simplest tradesman would at least have bartered for the site. The National Trust could have been offered a discount. Even at half price, the land would have generated much-needed funds for BANES Council."

Responding, Mr Samuel hit back at claims the authority "missed an opportunity" and said it followed strict asset transfer rules, adding that Mr Veal should know that any cash from the sale could not have been used on day-to-day services anyway.

He said the transfer followed a commitment by all parties ahead of the 2019 local elections to protect the land from inappropriate development after the last Conservative administration "tried to build a hated park and ride car park on the meadows, a project that collapsed after £1.3million had been wasted, when the Highways Agency refused the plans".

The decision was not challenged at the time.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said Mr Guy had recused himself from any conversation about the deals and went "above and beyond" what he needed to do.

"It's a shame people are trying to make political capital out of this," she said. "The story is the National Trust is the only organisation that can say it will keep something in a certain way in perpetuity.

"I'm concerned people are using it to create a false perception when this was a manifesto commitment we made to protect the meadows in perpetuity. We've managed to do it.

"Am I worried anything untoward has even got close to happening? Absolutely, irrevocably not."