By Colin Osborne
Desperate farmers have appealed to Herefordshire Council to think again about handing them notices to quit – which they say will sell the county’s “family silver”.
A gathering wave of support for the council’s smallholding tenants has gathered in advance of this Friday’s full council meeting. The national Tenant Farmers Association, the chairman of the Government’s Fresh Start Initiative are opposed, and a Lib Dem/Independent campaign is urging a re-think.
George Dunn, chairman of the association, the voice for farm tenants across England and Wales, said his organisation, with the backing of Defra, regarded council farm tenancies as a positive way to encourage new entrants to look positively at a career path in agriculture.
“We would all hate to see that rung of the ladder unceremoniously chopped off by an arbitrary decision to call in assets.
The council should take a long-term view of an industry that is itself a long-term business”, he said.
In a letter to Lib Dem leader Councillor Terry James, he said a large number of calls had been received from Herefordshire farmers under threat of notice to quit.
Up to 12 holdings are affected, nearly 20% of the council’s estate, He said he was disappointed that cabinet member of resources, Councillor Harry Bramer, allegedly “failed to appreciate” the strategic importance of county farms in Herefordshire and the nation as a whole.
“He has indicated that individual councillors have expressed concerns that the council should have farms at all, which I also find disappointing”, he said.
According to the Association, the council’s notice to quit decision has been based on a desire to rationalise and the need a target of £1million a year from capital disposals.
While the association accepts rationalisation, it says the council lacks a clear view and has not put in place a proper asset management plan, unlike Gloucestershire, which has raised about £100 million since the mid 1970s with strategic estate disposals, while leaving the size of the smallholdings virtually unchanged.
Many of the farms facing quit notices had been promised longer term agreements if the relationship was working well.
“While those promises were not legally binding, it is extremely unfortunate that the moral imperative is not being followed to fulfil those promises”, says the Association, which also calls for a debate in full council, a new offer of leases of at least 10 years, and a consultation with the cabinet member and council officers.
One farmer under threat is Steve Clayton, with 145 acres of mixed beef and sheep farming in the Golden Valley.
“We have invested a lot of money in the farm in the past five years, including 9,000 sq ft of new buildings and a conservatory in what is a small farm house.
This farm was tenanted by my father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and we provide part-time work for up to six local lads.
“This has been a hell of a blow. I think the council gets about £800,000 a year from its tenanted estate. Once it’s sold it’s gone, and there will be no return at all”, he said.
Friday’s notice of motion says current smallholdings should be maintained “when the country is facing a potential crisis in food production”, and that Hereford- shire should “uphold its agricultural reputation”.
Councillor Sally Robertson described how one of the three tenants given quit notices in her Burghill ward was a lady in her 70s, who had lived on the farm for 50 years, and had been offered accommodation in Bromyard or Ross.
“There was no consultation, and I only heard about the case from my husband after he had been to the local shop”, she said.
Tenant Farmers Association chairman George Dunn has called a meeting at the Priory Hotel, near Hereford, at 2pm on Thursday, May 15.
A spokesman from Herefordshire Council said: “Herefordshire Council is currently reviewing its smallholdings policy – it would not be appropriate, therefore, to comment further at this stage.
The notices to quit, which have been served, remain in place until the outcome of the review is known. The council has already agreed to meet Mr Dunn to discuss this issue with him.
