A BADGER cull will not be allowed to take place on any land owned by Stroud District Council, the authority decided last week.

After an impassioned hour-long debate at a meeting of the full council last Thursday, those members of SDC opposed to a potential cull prevailed in a closely contested vote.

A motion, proposed by Labour’s parliamentary candidate David Drew, which supported banning any cull was backed by 20 councillors, with 14 voting against and 11 abstaining.

Seconded by Stroud’s mayor John Marjoram, the approved motion called for SDC not to permit the culling of badgers on land it owned, managed or controlled.

It also urged the council to join forces with the pressure group Stroud 100, which is campaigning against the possibility of a cull.

Although there are no plans for a culling programme in the Five Valleys at present, pilot schemes involving the controlled shooting of badgers are currently underway in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset.

And there is a chance that Defra, the government department overseeing the pilots, could seek to expand the schemes to the Stroud district.

The sensitive issue of badger culling is one which polarises opinion and Cllr Drew acknowledged as much, describing it as a ‘highly emotive subject’ when presenting his motion.

Despite arousing strong feelings though, the debate prior to the vote at Ebley Mill last Thursday, April 26, was as amicable and reasoned as it was emotionally charged.

Cllr Drew (Paganhill and Farmhill, Lab) began by saying a cull was wrong both on moral and scientific grounds.

He continued to say: "There are an awful lot of people in our district who would oppose a cull very strongly and this district needs to be immune from any attempt to impose one."

However, Conservative councillor Graham Littleton disagreed with the Labour politician.

He said a badger cull was necessary because the animals were responsible for spreading bovine tuberculosis to livestock.

Cllr Littleton, himself a dairy farmer, said an outbreak of bovine TB could devastate a small farming business and that the disease was particularly prevalent in the district.

"We have to remember the human cost in the farming community," he said.

"Just over a year ago one of my friends took his life because he could not cope after losing his livestock to bovine TB."

Stroud 100 founder member Jeanne Berry said: "We’re delighted and surprised that the council has supported this motion given the political make-up of the council.

"The strength of evidence against the potential benefits of a cull came out in the debate and this seemed to tip the balance.

"Once more Stroud as a town and district is leading the way and we hope others across the country will follow their lead."