Last updated 10:30, Friday, 03 October 2008

A CRITICAL decline in sheep numbers could hit Cumbria in five years, a national farmers’ union spokesman has warned.

Will Cockbain, of Keswick, NFU uplands spokesman and hill farmer, said a 60 per cent decline in sheep numbers in parts of Scotland could be replicated here.

A survey by the Northwest Regional Development Agency reveals that average hill farm incomes in the region fell to £7,400 last year.

Hill farming has become unviable without support payments because of high input costs and the poor wool price.

A report on hill farming by the Scottish Agricultural College revealed that 60 per cent of sheep have disappeared from parts of north west Scotland since 1999.

Mr Cockbain warned: “There could be land abandonment.

“It has already started to happen in Scotland.”

He said the Cumbrian workforce was at an all-time low.

He added: “If the workforce is allowed to go much lower, there will be substantial changes here.

“Society needs to ask itself – do we want the landscape maintained as it is?

“If the answer is yes then we have to accept that we need the management capabilities there.”

Mr Cockbain wants more flexible planning rules to allow more than one generation to live on farms.

He added: “Scotland has started to drop over the edge. We’re not quite in that situation yet but we’re fast approaching it.

“We’re about five years behind in terms of decline.”