To submit the following Notice of Motion by Councillors Aled M Jones and Kenneth P Hughes:-
“We, the undersigned urge the County Council to adopt a policy which confirms a long term commitment to the agricultural small holding estates.
This requires the Authority to cease the disposal of vacant holdings as they become available. No small holdings over 20 acres to be sold without being approved at a meeting of the full Council”.
Minutes:
Submitted – the following Notice of Motion by Councillors Aled M. Jones and Kenneth P. Hughes :-
“We, the undersigned urge the County Council to adopt a policy which confirms a long term commitment to the agricultural small holding estates.
This requires the Authority to cease the disposal of vacant holdings as they become available. No small holdings over 20 acres to be sold without being approved at a meeting of the full Council.”
Councillor Aled M. Jones spoke in support of the Motion and said that the
Smallholding Estate must be secured for the future of young people who wish to be able to have a foothold in agriculture on these smallholdings. He noted that the current policy allows the Portfolio Holder (Highways, Property and Waste) and Officers to sell smallholdings up to 20 acres; recently two smallholdings have been sold. The Smallholdings Estate on Anglesey comprises of 98 units which is the second largest estate in Wales with 78 dwellings attached to it with annual rents totally £520k. The Council over recent years have carried out extensive refurbishment on the estate following transfer of the estate, which was in dire state, from Gwynedd County Council in 1996. He reiterated the need to secure the Smallholding Estate but decisions as regard to selling holdings up to 20 acres or dwellings needs to be a decision for the full Council.
Councillor K.P. Hughes wished to second the Motion and said that maybe there was justification in the past to sell a holding due to the dire state of the estate when transferred by Gwynedd Council. He noted that most of the estate has been refurbished and therefore the estate must be secured for the future of young people who wish to earn a living within the agriculture business.
Councillor Peter Rogers stated that he considered that the Smallholdings Estate had been left to deteriorate and the running of the estate is not fit for purpose by the Council.
The Portfolio Holder (Highways, Property and Waste) recommended an
amendment to the Notice of Motion put forward and proposed that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee be requested to discuss the aim of the Smallholdings Letting Policy. The Letting Policy needs to be evaluated so as to allow the smallholdings estate to be the most effective and fruitful for young people to have the opportunity to be tenants of a smallholding on the Island and to make a living out of the smallholding and furthermore to have a vision to becoming Managers of Commercial Farming Units in the future to secure financial stability for the estate.
The Leader of the Council seconded the amendment.
Councillor Aled M. Jones said that he was of the opinion that the smallholdings estate has been upgraded and did not agree that the matter should be referred to the Corporate Scrutiny Committee for further deliberations as the annual rents from the estate has been ring-fenced to allow for the maintenance required on the holdings. He was still of the opinion that the Notice of Motion put before the Council was the best for the future of the Smallholding Estate.
Following further deliberations, the full Council voted on the amendment to Notice of Motion put forward by the Portfolio Holder (Highways, Property and Waste) and the amendment was carried.
The amended motion was subsequently put to the vote and passed as the
substantive motion.
It was RESOLVED that the Notice of Motion as duly amended be forwarded to the Corporate Scrutiny Committee for consideration.