ENVIRONMENTALISTS are claiming victory after Bedfordshire County Council turned down plans to grow GM crops.
Councillors say they do not want to waste precious police resources on protecting a new site from eco-warriors opposed to the trials.
Council leader Philip Hendry said: “Around 150 police had to be turned out to keep the two sides of the GM debate apart in Cambridgeshire very recently.
“People are opposing GM crops by every means possible, and not always legal means. We have better things to do with our police time and energies.”
The trial would be part of the final year of a government scheme aimed at evaluating how GM crops affect the abundance of UK wildlife.
Green groups fear cross-pollination from GM crop sites to neighbouring farms would cause irreversible changes in the British countryside.
An unnamed tenant farmer was turned down by the county’s executive committee on Monday.
Friends Of The Earth campaigner Pete Riley said: “This may be the first time a local authority has turned down a request by one of it’s tenants.
“I think it’s a very wise decision, particularly for neighbouring farmers and bee keepers, because of the risk of contamination.
“GM and non-GM cannot co-exist.”
Mr Hendry added in his opinion the trials were not safe.
He said: “We have a responsibility to all of those working in agriculture in Bedfordshire.
“There is a scientific argument that cross pollination could occur and I would be prepared to argue that myself.”