A PERMANENT ban on trail hunting on council land has been approved following a meeting where accusations of ‘gesture politics’ and ‘diabolical’ attitudes were thrown back and forth.

Cheshire West and Chester’s ruling cabinet voted unanimously this morning to ban the practice, which replicates a traditional fox hunt but substitutes a scent instead of a live animal.

The move followed the publication of a council report which found it was ‘dangerous’ to wild and domestic animals, and alleged it was ‘realistically possible’ that trail hunting is used as a ‘cover up’ for other illegal hunting practices.

But in a statement read out at the meeting by Cheshire West Conservative group leader Cllr Margaret Parker, Cllr Simon Eardley, Conservative councillor for Saughall & Mollington Ward, said: “The reality is this (is) ideology-motivated, gesture politics by those intent on banning an activity that is perfectly legal.”

He 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.”

The council set up a cross-party working group earlier this year to get a better understanding of trail hunting in the borough. Its call for evidence resulted in 933 email responses, with 915 (98 per cent) in favour of the ban and 18 (two per cent) against.

But Cllr Eardley claimed there were ‘fundamental flaws’ in the report and that many of the responses were from outside the area and prompted by national pressure groups. He said: “The actual evidence presented around trail hunting leading to illegal activity is minuscule, it is barely in double figures and even then we look to be relying on verbal accounts.”

But Cllr Matt Bryan (Labour), Cabinet member for housing, planning and climate emergency, hit back.

He said: “I’m not surprised by Cllr 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 and I hope a lot of other councils will be watching this, use this to their advantage and put forward similar motions and policy.

“To be frank I’m quite embarrassed that you call yourself my shadow because animal welfare along with the nature and climate emergency that we’re facing, these are all intertwined and it’s diabolical that you’ve got this attitude to be honest.”

Following the vote, trail hunting will no longer be allowed on council land. The 18 tenant farmers in the borough will be asked to no longer allow it, while new tenants will have it written into their tenancy agreements.