HEREFORDSHIRE Council’s intention to sell off its smallholdings estate faces a review.

Today, the council’s overview and scrutiny committee will confirm the setting up of a task group to examine proposals for the sell off ahead of any decision being taken later this year.

The council has previously been criticised for leaving smallholding tenants in an “intolerable” limbo.

A decision on the sell-off was due this month but has been put back to September at the earliest for further assessment and development of business case options.

As reported by the Hereford Times, the council has already said that it cannot plough any more money into its smallholdings.

A draft report presented in July last year identified “significant”  work that needed to be done on the  “complex” options to be considered, including testing planning assumptions, market conditions and development opportunities.

The issue came to overview and scrutiny in November as a “position statement” that did not include recommendations.

Overall, the council’s smallholding estate covers around 4,800 acres across the county with approximately 50 farmed tenanted smallholdings and woodland divided into 14 separate parcels of land.

The  present management policy dates back to 2009 and has not been reviewed since.

Priorities for the council have shifted dramatically since, as cuts decimate the extent of funding available and services provided.

An options appraisal is seen by the council as needed to inform future policy development and decision-making and identify the true value contained within the estate.

Continuing with existing policy has already been ruled out as, according to the council’s assessment, the net rates of return from lettings constitute poor value for money.

Already, the national tenant farmers group has called for options that allow the estate to “manage its own affairs” under a long-term, strategic plan set by the council.