A CORNWALL councillor – who is also a farmer – has demanded that the local authority safeguards its farms estate against the possibility of “wholesale disposal”.

Cllr Adrian Parsons told a meeting of the council this week that he couldn’t express how disappointed he was that the matter wasn’t being discussed in the chamber and had been referred to the ruling Cabinet.

The Liberal Democrat councillor for Altarnun and Stoke Climsland proposed a motion to protect the council’s 10,800-acre estate – which contains around 81 farms – from being sold off to help cover the council’s £1.3 billion debt. He said “It is entirely appropriate to ensure we are maximising the efficiencies of the farms estate, both for tenants and taxpayers alike” but “the option of a wholesale disposal needs to be ruled out at this point”.

The possible sale of some of Cornwall Council’s farms estate has triggered widespread alarm among local farmers and campaigners. The council decided last month to consider the future of its estate, but a Cabinet member says it is not the administration’s intention to get rid of the whole estate.

Cllr Tim Dwelly, portfolio holder for assets, said: “We will want to look at how the estate can be better managed and will consider all options for reforming it in the future to make best use of the land.”

Following a long debate by its sustainable growth scrutiny committee, councillors agreed that there should be an inquiry into the future of its farms. A report to the committee suggested there could be alternative land use for its farms, including the provision of schools, housing and solar farms.

Speaking at a full council meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Parsons said: “My intention was to draw a line in the sand that our greatest asset and resource would not be sold off, while stripping away the risk of a rash decision being made by those with delegated powers.

“As I look around this chamber, I increasingly see less people with muddied hands who have done a hard day’s graft in the fields and increasingly hear accents from those who have moved in to enjoy the landscape that our forefathers have left behind. That doesn’t mean you don’t care, but perhaps don’t always truly understand what’s at stake.”

He added: “Farming is and always has been about change and tough choices. With new dairy contracts all but non-existent, as factories are full to capacity with milk, and arable farming currently undergoing a downturn due to cheaper boat loads of grain entering our shores, core agriculture remains a difficult place to make a living.

“Then you have a government that appears to not only not want to work with us, but actively feels like its working against us, with currently no environmental schemes – such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive available to enter into – making it difficult for tenants to pursue alternative income streams.”

Cllr Parsons told the chamber: “There’s a real nervousness about where this is heading and that’s what this motion was to prevent.”