Cheshire West and Chester Council bans trail hunting

Trail hunting is legal but chasing wild animals with dogs is banned

A ban on trail hunting on council-owned land in Cheshire has been approved.

Cheshire West and Chester's cabinet voted to permanently ban the practice, which sees dogs and riders follow an artificial scent along an agreed route.

The move follows the publication of a council report which alleged it was "realistically possible" that trail hunting could be used as a "cover-up" for other illegal hunting practices.

But councillor Simon Eardley said their were "fundamental flaws" in the report.

In a statement read out at the meeting on his behalf, he said: "The reality is this is ideology-motivated, gesture politics by those intent on banning an activity that is perfectly legal."

The Conservative added: "In my rural ward where fly-tipping in country lanes is almost a daily problem, residents will be bemused that we've locked up regulatory services officer time on trying to prevent legal activity.

"What a perverse sense of priority that is."

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The council set up a cross-party working group earlier this year to get a better understanding of trail hunting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

It resulted in 933 email responses, with 915 in favour of the ban and 18 against.

Mr Eardley claimed many of the responses were from outside the area and had been prompted by national pressure groups.

But councillor Matt Bryan, Labour's cabinet member for housing, planning and climate emergency, said he was "not surprised by councillor Eardley's ramble and rant, especially regarding gesture politics".

He added: "Your point of minuscule evidence, this is probably the most robust evidence case that's been put forward to a motion in the country.

"I hope a lot of other councils will be watching this, use this to their advantage and put forward similar motions and policy."

Nick Weston, of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "Banning hunts from a particular packet of land does make a difference as if there is no land for them to hunt there is no hunt."

However, Polly Portwin, of the Countryside Alliance, said the ban would have no effect on local hunts and said it is "purely political grandstanding".

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