EFFORTS to oppose a Boxing Day trail hunt in a Mid Devon town have been rejected after a casting vote by the mayor.

A motion had been proposed to get Tiverton Town Council to oppose any trail hunts using the town’s name, or meeting in the town, with hounds or horses on Boxing Day or in the future.

After what some attendees described as an “impassioned” debate, including various public speakers, nine councillors voted for the motion, nine against it with four abstaining.

This meant that the town’s mayor, Councillor Neal Davey, who was chairing the full council meeting, had to cast the deciding vote.

John Vanderwolfe, the town clerk, said the mayor did not vote initially, but when the count was tied, he became obliged to offer a casting vote.

“He decided with difficulty to go against the motion,” Mr Vanderwolfe said.

“I didn’t envy his position whichever way he went, but we stuck to the way such a situation would be dealt with in Parliament, whereby if a vote is tied, then the casting vote tends to go against the motion.”

Mr Vanderwolfe said some attendees queried the vote count later in the meeting. The count could not be redone by the time these concerns were raised, but Mr Vanderwolfe said checks had been carried out of footage of the meeting to confirm the count was correct.

He added that even if the motion – proposed by Councillor Chris Berry – had been successful, the town council had no powers to stop a hunt meeting given they use land that isn’t owned by the town council.

Cllr Berry said he had submitted the motion last year, and when it failed then he started a petition to get the public’s views.

“I started the petition to prove local opinion on the issue,” he said.

“More than 4,000 people have signed the petition, which was focused on stopping the hunt meeting in Tiverton on Boxing Day, or any other day.”

Councillor David Wulff, who is also a district councillor for Mid Devon, said while he hoped the Government would maintain its pledge to ban trail hunting, he could not vote for the town council’s motion.

“Until the law is amended, I cannot in good conscience support a town council motion that would commit a publicly funded, democratically elected body to a stance that is at odds with current legislation,” he said.

“While I share the moral reasoning behind the motion, I believe it is the responsibility of individuals and politicians to pursue such positions through proper channels, rather than leveraging public institutions in ways that conflict with their legal frameworks.

“It is with regret that I voted against the motion, but I did so in adherence to this principle.”

The Hunting Act 2004 made it illegal to hunt wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales. The law does not apply to trail hunting where the group follows a scent along a pre-determined route instead of a live animal.

Bradley Gerrard

LDRS