County farms estate to receive £16 million in funding from Council

Service

Mr Paynter backed this investment, saying county farms are a ‘service’ and should be treated as a ‘community asset rather than a commercial asset’.

He added: “County farms continue to put funds back into the council as well as investment, putting £1 million back into the funding pot to be used for public services – it washes its own face.

“The food and drink sector is also incredibly important for Cornwall, given its processing capacity – investing in the farms estate is therefore incredibly important for connecting farming and food production.”

Chris Cardell, NFU tenant spokesman, echoed this.

He said: “It is good to see the council have laid down a long term strategy to invest in its county farms estate and maintain the acreage.”

Scheme

The report also allocated £1 million to support Environmental Growth activities, which will advocate the increase in woodland from 300 acres to 1,050 acres to reduce carbon emissions.

Mr Paynter said an alignment of the service to meet the Defra position on supporting council farms was necessary, but stated there were currently ‘no details of a future scheme’.

Former Defra secretary Michael Gove had promised to announce a new package of support for county farms owned by councils last year.

Mr Paynter added: “Cornwall council will be positioned to meet the scheme should it come forward.”