Somerset Council to sell off county farms

Somerset County Council has voted in favour of disposing of some of its core farms to raise capital for investment elsewhere.

At a council cabinet meeting on Monday (21 June), councillors approved plans to review the future of every farm on the estate, with the option to sell off an undisclosed number.

Councillor David Huxtable said he hoped to complete the review of 60 farms within two months, with a view to releasing up to £50m from the 2900ha (7200-acre) estate.

The council has already served three tenants with notices to quit when their contracts are due for renewal in March 2011, sparking anger from tenants and farming organisations.

“It was quite clear that before the meeting the eight members of the council cabinet had made up their minds to vote for the programme of disposal regardless of the speeches they heard today,” said Jeremy Walker, Wessex regional chairman of the Tenants’ Farmers Association.

“It didn’t seem to matter to them that so many came to express their views in opposition to the council’s plans that a bigger room had to be found at short notice to accommodate the meeting.

“What we needed was a level-headed and careful approach to ensuring the council-tax payers would receive best value,” he added.

“Other local authorities who have recently gone through that process have concluded that there is better value in retaining their estates and taking advantage of significant development uplift than following the disposal policy which would see asset values squandered.

“Council-tax payers will be looking back in five or 10 years’ time and will rue the day that these eight cabinet members threw away the family silver.

“We would hope that there could be a proper debate in a meeting of full council to look at this issue afresh.”