The Cabinet member overseeing the future of Cornwall Council’s farms estate, which will see some cuts and reductions, has said there has been “political drama where there isn’t one”, adding that any notion of the authority selling off its farms is “frankly b******s”.

However, the council administration’s long-term aim is to provide 400 acres of the 10,000-acre estate for homes, in a bid to ease the housing crisis.

There has been some controversy and criticism of the council since it announced an inquiry into the estate – which includes around 80 farms – in a bid to cut costs. The possible sale of a large part of the estate triggered widespread alarm among local farmers, campaigners and some Cornwall councillors when the council decided in the summer of 2025 to consider the future of its farm assets and farming service.

Following the six-month inquiry, it was decided that there was no reason to sell off the entire estate, but the council was advised to cut the number of its dairy farms and reduce the number of farm buildings and equipment to make it more financially viable.

Cornwall Council’s Liberal Democrat / Independent Cabinet will discuss the authority’s Farms Strategy 2019–2039 at its meeting on Wednesday (November 11) and is likely to approve a recommendation to “carefully assess each farm’s ability to meet financial targets … and remove elements of the estate that are unlikely to sufficiently contribute towards these to a satisfactory level”.

Ahead of the meeting, Cllr Tim Dwelly, Cabinet member for economic regeneration and investment, told us: “There’s a lot of froth around people who seem to want to try to make political drama where there isn’t one. We are trying to make sure that the estate is absolutely covering its own costs. Broadly, we’re switching towards concentrating on the land and not necessarily keeping all the very, very expensive to maintain houses.”

He said the aim was to make the estate “more modern but it’s also business as usual, really, but we are definitely committed to 100 acres in this administration for housing and, longer term, 400 as part of the Homes Cornwall process, so we’re being very serious about putting our land on the table.

“So there is no selling off of the farms estate – that’s nonsense and, frankly, b******s and you can quote me on that.”