In her first Trusted Contributor article for Nub News, Cllr Jane Smith writes about asking Cheshire East Council to ban so-called 'trail' hunting on any tenanted farmland owned by the borough.

Cllr Smith, sits on Alsager Town Council as an Animal Welfare Party councillor.

While Cheshire East have previously stated that they do not allow hunting on council owned land, in their parlance this could mean directly owned land such as parks and may not include council owned farmland, which covers large swathes of land across the borough.

This needs clarifying and if, as we suspect, it only includes directly owned land, then further action is needed urgently from them.

We also need to make sure that 'trail' hunting is firmly addressed.

The vocabulary around council owned land is important here. Cheshire East has repeatedly said that they do not allow badger culling 'on council owned land', but what they mean is directly owned land; badger culling still takes place on tenanted farmland owned by Cheshire East Council.

In the case of badger culling, the council agreed earlier this year to introduce a no-culling clause into farm contracts as and when they come up for renewal; at Animal Welfare Party we would like them to insert a 'no trail hunting' clause.

Denying trail hunts land to hunt on is an essential part of ending under-the-radar fox hunting.

Let's not forget either that council owned farmland is land which taxpayers' money is spent on, and we know that the vast majority of the public strongly opposes fox hunting.

While we continue to campaign for the Hunting Act to be strengthened, notably through recklessness and landowner culpability clauses, it is also essential that we work on local borough and county councils to make sure the hunts have less and less land to access.

Fifteen years on from the hunting ban, some 294 hunts still operate in the British countryside - including several notorious 'trail' hunts who operate here in Cheshire East.

Earlier this month, the League Against Cruel Sports launched a campaign to get trail hunting banned on council owned land across the country.