ONE of Herefordshire Council's tenant farmers claims he has been severely misled as he waits to be evicted.

Stephen Clayton, who has been a tenant in Rowlestone for the last 14 years, says his cattle are his livelihood but he has no other option to sell his animals and move from a farm to a house.

New House Farm which consists of 145 acres and had a guide sale price of £1.2 million. It has now been sold to a private farmer and Mr Clayton is due to be evicted.

Mr Clayton says that when the council agreed to sell farms across the county that he and other tenant farmers were assured that it would just mean a different landlord.

However, he and four other tenant farmers have had to sell their livestock as they prepare to be evicted from their farms.

"We have nowhere else to go despite the council leader saying when he made the decision that no tenants would have to leave farms and it was just a change in landlord," said Mr Clayton.

"We have now lost our farms and our livelihoods, it's a disgrace. There are no alternative farms for us to rent so we will have to move into a house.

"This is also my job, my income and everything has been lost. It's the end of our livelihood and we are finished. I now think all the Conservative county councillors should step down.

"They are a disgrace to the county for the decision they made with the council's leader."

Mr Clayton, who previously owned the lease of a farm near Fromes Hill before before upgrading to the site near Ewyas Harold, added: "Most of the council's farms are being sold to private farmers and there will be no small leases left for young farmers starting out.

"I've always been in farming and started with little parcels of land all over the county before getting my first county council farm and have expanded ever since.

"We have got to the stage where we were looking for a bigger farm but there is nothing available."

George Dunne, Chief Executive of the Tenants Farmers Association, labelled the situation 'frankly appalling'.

A Herefordshire spokesman said that they cannot comment on tenants’ individual circumstances.

They said: "The process of the launch, marketing and handling of bids and subsequent sales has, and will continue to, follow our adopted governance procedures."

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has received a complaint about the tenant's eviction following Cllr Tony Johnson's earlier pledge.

The ombudsman concluded: "The council's leader had made some comments that were not clear and could have been unintentionally misleading.

"However, this did not affect the decision made by Cabinet members to sell the farms. The council has made provision for the affected farmers to meet the selling agent to discuss their future and possibly to make an offer for their farms.

"I note this was initially on a limited time scale but the council has now offered the tenants a degree of flexibility over the end date of their tenancies if they are not able to buy their farms and have not found somewhere to move to at the appointed time. The date on which their tenancies must end is now September 2017."