A FORMER Herefordshire Council leader says the county’s smallholdings were ‘sabotaged’ by bad management.

In 2016, the then Conservative-run council controversially decided to sell off its smallholding estates and properties to support the delivery of public services.

Some 40 tenants were originally affected by the sale of the lots which covered more than 4,000 acres.

As of May 2018, the council was expected to receive an income of £46m from these sales.

Conservative group leader Jonathan Lester told last week's cabinet meeting that the main reason for selling the smallholdings was because that asset wasn’t giving the greatest rate of return to the council.

“Although it is always great to be in a position to be a landowner, if you don’t get that rate of return for the taxpayer then you have to consider selling," he said.

“And that’s exactly what we did to raise that capital to allow the council to be in a very good financial situation.”

But former council leader and current Liberal Democrat group chief Terry James said the farms weren’t delivering sufficient returns ‘because of the bad management of the council and the officers’.

“I’ve been involved in a larger estate than the Herefordshire Council estate who have a massive return because they manage it in a businesslike way.

“I’ve said that for years. The smallholdings were sabotaged by the lack of management within the council.”

The council is currently led by a coalition of Herefordshire Independents, It's Our County and Green Party councillors.