Reform UK plans to halt sale of Staffordshire county farms

Reform UK has announced plans to ban the sale of Staffordshire county farms after taking control of the county council earlier this year, saying it wants to protect agricultural land and support new farmers across the county.

Martin Murray, the deputy leader of Staffordshire County Council, discussed the move in a post on the social media platform X, stating: “As soon as we took control of Staffordshire County Council, I found out that the Conservatives had sold off nearly half of our county farms, leaving just 63 remaining farms.

“Immediately, we stopped all proposed future sales, and we have now put a total ban on the sale of county farms.”

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The council confirmed to Farmers Weekly that while there was no official policy on halting sales of the county farms estate, this was the cabinet’s intention.

A policy statement is due to be considered by the cabinet in the coming months, which could formalise the proposal.

Explaining the proposal, Mr Murray said: “As a largely rural county it is a priority for us to support agricultural enterprise and we’re pleased to be able to do this through our thriving farms estate.

“Our tenants represent the future of farming and county farms lay the foundations for the next generation in this sector, which is why they are so important.

“Tenancies are highly regarded and sought after. We do have a stringent selection process [for tenants] which ensures the estate remains commercially viable and provides a good return for the county council.”

Staffordshire council began offering farms for rent in 1908.

There are currently 63 tenanted farms in the county, along with additional rural properties and land.

Mr Murray said: “For over 100 years, this county has been doing farms. We are going to continue that for the next 100 years. We are going to secure those farms; they will never be sold off.”

County farms in Staffordshire are largely operated as dairy units, with others rearing beef cattle and sheep, and some focusing on arable production.

These holdings are available to new entrants to the industry as well as those seeking to progress their agricultural careers.

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Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) chief executive George Dunn said his organisation had always been opposed to councils selling off their farms or “using them to plug budget gaps caused by poor financial management”.

He added that the organisation had previously criticised Staffordshire council for “opportunistic sales” to raise cash for health, social care and infrastructure.

“These farms are income-earning assets,” he said. “Local authorities must manage them better for both the wider agricultural industry and for council taxpayers locally. Once holdings are sold, they are gone forever.”

Mr Dunn said the TFA supported measures to stop “fire sales”, but added that “from time to time it is sensible to harvest value for development”, provided the money was “reinvested into the estate, new land, or farm infrastructure”.

The sale of county farms has been a contentious issue in Staffordshire for many years.

In 2008, a Labour administration considered selling parts of the rural estate, but the plans were dropped following strong opposition from the agricultural community.

In 2019, the Conservative council announced plans to sell 16 farms to raise about £20m for services, including health, social care and infrastructure.