Cheshire West and Chester Council has agreed to ban trail hunting on its land following concerns over the risk posed to animals and the environment.
The new policy will see trail hunting prohibited on land owned and controlled by the council, with a new clause included on any new farm tenancy agreements.
The council will try and arrange voluntary agreements with existing tenant farmers.
Cllr Karen Shore, the council's cabinet member for environment, highways and strategic transport said: 'There has been significant support for introducing this ban to prevent trail hunting to take place on council owned land.
'We received details about a disregard for fields full of livestock causing damage to both the land and the stock, stress caused to ewes during lambing season risking lost lambs, gates left open allowing flocks to mix and gates removed form hinges. There was also a mention of padlocks cut to gain access to land, a hunt claiming they didn’t know ewes would be in lamb over winter months and a hunt stating that they are on land because they couldn’t be sure which way the fox would go.'
The council set up a cross-party working group to collect evidence and better understand the activity. A call for evidence found 98% of people were in favour of the ban mainly due to risk posed to wildlife and endangered species.
