The Tenant Farmers Association has branded the actions of the County Farms Committee of Devon County Council as shameful.

Claiming the authority did not allow Devon tenant farmers to express their concerns regarding the management of the Devon County Council farms estate at a meeting of the committee.

TFA chief executive, George Dunn, who did attend the meeting at County Hall in Exeter having been asked by the local tenants’ association to present its case said: “The land agent employed by the county council, under contract from NPS South West Ltd, is consistently informing tenants of the estate that if they have any problems with the way the estate is being managed, they must take these up with the committee directly. However, if the committee is not prepared to listen to the tenants, where can their voice be heard?

“The committee was given a very fair warning; there was an item on the formal meeting agenda providing the opportunity for the tenants' concerns to be considered. The detail of the concerns had been sent out in advance to the committee chairman, Councillor Jerry Brook and the land agent. Instead of listening to the tenants’ concerns, the committee passed a hastily prepared motion which stated that it was premature to hear from the tenants, given that there had been a full review of the estate in the previous year,” said Mr Dunn.

“The tenants were not requesting another review. They simply wanted to articulate concerns on how the conclusions from the last review were being implemented by the land agent. The tenants support the conclusions of the last review but they do not believe that they are being put into practice correctly,” said Mr Dunn.

“It was also of concern that a number of tenants had made applications for extensions to their tenancies and rather than having the opportunity of addressing the committee directly were kept waiting for hours outside the meeting room where decisions about their futures were made behind closed doors. Mr Brook, who is also chairman of the farms estate committee, said: “We were aware of the Tenant Farmers Association’s concerns having been presented with them several weeks ago. They, and Mr Dunn’s subsequent comments, were considered very carefully in every detail by the committee prior to and during the meeting. The committee therefore decided it was not necessary to ask Mr Dunn to also speak at the meeting.

“The views of our tenant farmers are always welcomed, and we take any concerns very seriously.

“Last year we worked with the TFA to review our farms policy. The new more flexible management strategy, which was adopted as recently as April 2010, has been vital in making our farms estate more sustainable in the long term, and maximises opportunity for the current and future tenants.

“Tenants understood and approved of our review, and these current concerns we believe are not shared by the majority of our tenants. Moreover, there is increasing evidence emerging that tenants recognise and grasp the opportunity the new policy offers them.

“Common to all local authority-owned farms estates, Devon’s faces considerable financial difficulties. The council’s strategy requires tenants to share some of that burden in order to ensure the continued existence and sustainability of the estate for the benefit of existing and future generations of tenants.

“Sadly, tenants of other local authorities have been less fortunate than ours with increasing numbers of county farms being sold off up and down the country. Through the new strategy, which undeniably sets out new and difficult challenges for both landlord and tenant we have secured the estate’s existence for at least the foreseeable future, and for that we should all be thankful.”