Council order sheep off land

Phil Jones has been allowed to graze animals on the site in Black Lane, Loxley, in exchange for maintaining the land and keeping boundary fencing in good condition.

He was invited to rent the land in 2000, but has not paid rent in recent years, following the foot-and-mouth disease crisis in 2001.

Earlier this year, a member of Bradfield Parish Council - which owns the five acre field - asked if he could lease the site to graze ponies instead.

And the authority gave Loxley-based Mr Jones notice to remove his sheep from the land, inviting bids from people wishing to take over the site. Two applications have been received, one from the councillor and one from Mr Jones - and a decision on whose to accept will be made by parish councillors at a meeting next week.

One villager, who did not wish to be named, said: "This has caused a lot of ill feeling in the village because this farmer is well liked and many people are unhappy about what has happened, especially as a parish councillor is involved; we feel it is morally wrong."

Mr Jones is understood to have met with Bradfield Parish Council following its decision to order his sheep off the land - when he complained about the situation because of the amount of work he had carried out on the land and paid for himself.

A council spokeswoman said: "When we obtained the land, we wanted to make it into a park but people who overlooked the site were very opposed to the plan.

"A decision was made to leave the land as it was. Mr Jones was invited on to keep the grass down. Sheep are useful for making good turf; it's the way they nibble - and they fertilise the land, too.

"Mr Jones has also looked after the land and made sure the boundaries were all right."

But she said that the council made a decision to seek a tenant at a meeting in the summer, after the councillor expressed his interest in the site in May.

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