Councillors have approved a move to 'develop a policy' on trail hunting on Cheshire West-owned land.

The motion was approved at a feisty full Council meeting 39-23.

It was proposed by Labour Cllr Matt Bryan, who claimed hunting groups had been using trail hunting as 'a smokescreen' for live animal hunting.

Cllr Bryan said: "Anyone who has grown up in the countryside or can read or use the internet knows they have been using trail hunting as a smokescreen for years.

"We have a duty as a council to enforce protection on our land but also the flora and fauna on it.

"Recently we have seen videos of the national hunt advising hunt masters to use the legal loophole of trail hunting to go about their hunting business.

"In the last season locally, Cheshire monitors collated 21 reports of suspected illegal activity within Cheshire West… and included a report of a pet labrador being attacked by 30 beagles."

However, Conservative councillors opposed the motion, with Cllr Hugo Deynhem telling the meeting: "Any decisions on policy need to be evidence-led, [so] if the council believes, or has evidence that trail hunting on its council-owned land has been involved in illegal activities — linked directly to trail hunting — then it should investigate any such incidents and involve the police in that process, and follow any investigations through to prosecution.

"However, if there's no evidence of wrongdoing… and I'm not aware of any prosecutions — so as such, many of the comments we have heard are no more than circumstantial evidence.

"I cannot see any logical or practical reason to tie up cabinet in such meaningless work on developing policy on a matter we don't even have evidence of. I should hardly need to remind Labour members that we are in the middle of a pandemic."

The matter will now be referred to the Council's Cabinet in the new year.