ASSURANCES were given to tenant farmers today as North Yorkshire County Council prepared to sell off more than 11,000 acres of farmland across the region.

The council's controversial plans to sell off the land, valued at £60 million, are to be decided on next week, and if they go ahead, would raise money for other services in the county.

But farmers have opposed the plans which in the past have meant they have been able to pass on their tenancies to their sons.

The council say the scheme was only introduced to give them a first step on the ladder, but in practice had worked so that most tenants stayed on their farms and did not move into the private sector.

He said the council wanted to reassure tenants that if the scheme went ahead the 126 current tenants would be able to stay on their farms until their leases expired, that they would have the first opportunity to buy their farms, and that in appropriate cases, family successors would be granted a further 10-year lease to set them on their way to farming in the private sector.

Council leader Coun David Ashton said: "This will delay the authority's access to the capital tied up in these holdings, but the county council believes that it is important to make reasonable provisions for the tenants who will be affected by the new policy.

"If the council agrees than a substantial sum will be raised over a number of years to help services which have been badly hit by budget cuts in recent years. For example, in the past three years, the county council has seen its revenue budget cut by £26 million."

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