County Council Plan To Sell Local Farms to Build Housing Estates

Labour accused of concreting over the countryside

Labour-controlled Staffordshire County Council plan to sell-off local County farms for housing developments, threatening the countryside in the process.  Local Conservatives are calling for the farming community to support a protest against the sell off, highlighting the damage such action could have on the Staffordshire rural economy.   

Conservative County Councillor Neal Podmore fears that the Labour controlled County Council believe farming is dead in Staffordshire, following the leaked plan to sell all 123 farms and a number of other holdings. 

Councillor Podmore said, "I can see the why this option is so attractive to Labour as some farms have potential for housing development at £1M  per acre rather than the £3,000 without it.  With the financial crisis facing the County in the future this scheme might appear an easy way out.  However this Labour administration seems to once again overlook the human misery this would mean for the Tenant Farmers and their families,.” 

Local Conservatives oppose the wholesale disposal of the County's farms and smallholdings, and are pledging to call-in any Cabinet decision that puts at risk our local rural economy.