This article was published in the County Times, 27 April 2025, and can be found here.

Powys County Council’s budget shortfall continues to cause ructions for my constituents.

Tenant farmers are the latest to feel the sharp end of cuts. Many have been in touch with me to raise the alarm about changes Powys County Council is making to its Farm Estate. These changes will save the council money, but for the farmers who have looked after those farms for decades they will mean eviction, the sale of their treasured livestock, and homelessness.

The farmland that Powys County Council owns – 138 holdings over 10,700 acres – is the largest agricultural estate in Wales. Most of these holdings are in Montgomeryshire.

The farm sales are the council’s prerogative. The way that it has been going about making this change, however, has caused huge problems. It would seem the council plans to sell off the homes of these farmers and keep the land to be rented out.

This stops any of the tenant farmers from buying the farm they have worked for years, if they have the means to do that. It equally means no-one else can purchase that working farm.

I have spoken with one farming family that has worked on a holding for 25 years. They are now threatened with eviction on a timescale of mere months. Any farmer will know that you cannot sell livestock that rapidly.

The council’s own website boasts: “tenants are encouraged to develop and expand their businesses.” This family has done just that, putting up new buildings and doing other work on the farm or to the house. They will not be compensated for this.

Many tenant farmers have no savings because of the almost non-existent profit margins in farming and are now essentially facing the total ruin of their livelihoods. They are understandably inconsolable.

Several other farming families are facing similar situations, and these are just the ones I have personally been able to track down.

The council’s Farm Estate is managed in-house. Constituents have impressed on me that the land agents responsible for selling this property have been all but unreachable, and unwilling to compromise.

This is a patently cruel situation. I call on Powys County Council to work with me and manage this with the compassion and understanding that these people deserve after having been loyal tenant farmers for decades.

I will always speak out on issues affecting those I was elected to represent. Here too, like in so many areas, the legacy of austerity combined with poor financial management on the part of the council is creating real pain for my constituents.

If you are facing similar circumstances, please get in touch with me.