TFA slams land sale by Herefordshire County Council

The Tenant Farmers Association has slammed Herefordshire County Council’s decision to proceed with the sale of part of its farm estate.

The council is planning to sell some 400 acres which is just short of 10% of its total county farms estate.

George Dunn, TFA chief executive, said: “This is bad news all round and sends the wrong signal for all sorts of reasons. It was not very long ago that the council was making clear its commitment to retaining county farms and here it is within a short period of time confirming that it is selling a large chunk of its estate. 

“This is bad news for the democratic process within the local authority as people understandably begin to doubt what they are being told from County Hall.”

“A major concern for us is the impact on the tenant farmers on the estate and their families.  Many, if not all, of these tenants rely upon these farms for their livelihood and future security. 

“The county council is supposed to be encouraging new entrants into farming and helping them find ways sustaining their businesses into the long term.  However, all they have succeeded in doing is upsetting them.  I am involved with a number of individual farm families on the Herefordshire Estate where the stress caused by the uncertainty is causing illness, depression and family problems”, said Mr Dunn.

But in a statement Herefordshire County Council said it was only selling a small but expensive-to-maintain part of its estate.

“The full council meeting voted 26 votes to 17 to support the sale of a collection of farm buildings and woodland on a 400-acre site at Almeley in the north of Herefordshire. The meeting heard that the sale was in line with long-established council policy and made sound business sense for council tax payers. It will reduce the council’s smallholding maintenance bill by £500,000, which is more than 20 times the annual rental income of £22,000.”

The council pointed out that it has since agreed to recommend for funding a capital improvement programme of £500,000 a year for the next three years – or £1.5 million in total – to improve the condition of the buildings on its smallholdings.

Herefordshire Council owns 73 tenant farms in total.

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