Farmers association urges Peterborough council not to sell rural estate

Earlier this month a Government report was issued looking at the council’s financial situation, with a Government minister saying the authority was ‘not grasping’ the serious situation it found itself in.

The report suggested a number of ways the council could raise money to help pay for services, with selling the 3,000 acre rural estate estimated to be able to bring in more than £21 million.

However, the TFA said; “The TFA has argued that this is a short-term, knee-jerk reaction. Clearly the issues of poor financial management go much wider than the county farms estate. It seems madness to force the local authority to sell what should be an income earning asset, directly from the rent roll but also from harvesting value from potential development. The local authority also needs to take into consideration the wider, socio-economic benefits of the estate, including the provision of recreation and access, education outside the classroom, opportunities for renewable energy and flood risk management. All of these benefits will be lost if the City Council is forced to sell the rural estate.”

Other options listed for sales by the council in the report include the Town Hall - which it is estimated could bring in £12.2 million.

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