Motion to end badger culling on council owned land passed through Oxfordshire County Council

Ian Middleton, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat Green Alliance, tabled plans which called for the county council to reaffirm its opposition to badger culling, and to consider a specific policy that bans badger culling on council-owned land.

It also called for the leader of the county council, Liz Leffman, to write to the Department of Environmental and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to state the council’s opposition to the practice.

The motion from Mr Middleton was debated at the Oxfordshire County Council meeting on Tuesday, December 10 at County Hall.

In his opening speech, he said: “Badger culling is inhumane and unethical and breaches national and international sustainability and biodiversity commitments.

“We should not be allowing the practice on land we control.

“Whilst the seriousness of Bovine TB and its impact on our farming community is not to be taken lightly, the demonisation and wholesale slaughter of a species cannot be justified.”

He added there was evidence to suggest that culling was not an effective measure in combatting Bovine TB, and that it could increase the spread of the disease because badgers move away from the cull zone and infect cattle elsewhere.

Conservative councillor Nick Field-Johnson opposed the motion, arguing that sometimes there was no alternative to badger culling.

He said: “It has been clearly shown that allowing culling where the disease remains a major problem has been effective in cutting back on TB.

“Culling needs to be allowed used in areas where TB is shown to be a real problem, but I would agree with you that we should say no to blanket culling.”

The motion passed through the council with 30 votes for, eight votes against and seven abstentions.

The motion was proposed at two previous meetings, but was not debated because councillors ran out of time.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Middleton said: “Farmers need an effective means to wipe out TB rather than the token gesture that the cull represents, especially as there’s evidence that it could even be making things worse.

“Trapping and vaccinating is a far more humane and effective method to achieve measurable results.”