FURIOUS farmers will bring Chester city centre to a halt tomorrow when they bring the countryside to town in a dramatic protest.

Tractors, trucks and trailers will perform a lap of the city as they attempt to force the Government to pay attention to rural matters.

Hunting, post office closures and the sorry state of British farming will be on the agenda as hordes of country dwellers converge on the Town Hall Square.

'This is intended to highlight the state of farming and the rural countryside as a whole because it is in total devastation at the moment,' said Tom Houghton, Cheshire coordinator for Farmers For Action which has organised the protest rally. 'The suicide rate among farm-ers is going sky-high.'

The rally brings together individuals and members of countryside groups in three motorcades which will proceed from points outside the city, arriving at Chester racecourse at 11am.

Following a procession to the town hall, where three short speeches will take place, the rally will end in a lap of the city's ring road.

'We feel we have so many problems in the farming, horticultural and rural sectors - the rural economy, fuel prices, cutbacks to bus routes, and the closure of rural schools, post offices and shops,' said Mr Houghton.

'So we thought we'd bring the countryside to town, link all these people together and unite to show Mr Blair, the Government and any future governments they need to do more for the countryside.

'We will have a number of agricultural vehicles coming. It should be an impressive sight.'

He stressed: 'The last thing we want to do is inconvenience the general public but if we do we have to apologise. We have been pushed to this.'

Mr Houghton said the rally would be the first of many throughout the country, possibly ending up in a major countryside rally in London later in the year.

'People are under extreme pressure. The time has come when we're going to stand up and be counted,' he added.

Members of the Countryside Alliance have thrown their weight behind the rally and have urged members to turn up on the day.

Participants will meet at 10.30am at either the A483/A55 close to Cheshire Business Park, the A51 Stamford Bridge or A540 Parkgate Road, Mollington, meeting at Chester Racecourse at 11am.

Hunt staff in livery will lead a march to the town hall where FAA chairman David Handley, independent Vinnie Faal and a representative from the Countryside Alliance will address the crowds.

Chester's Labour MP Christine Russell said: 'In a democracy, people have a right to express their views but individuals and groups also have a responsibility to uphold the law so I hope the demonstration will be peaceful and inconvenience won't be caused to the general public.'

'Farming is on its knees'
FARMER Ed Shaw, of Rushton, runs a family farm and will be sending two tractors to tomorrow's rally.

'I believe we need to go to town,' he said. 'The majority of urban people are very understanding - we need to make our views known.'

He says red tape and bureaucracy are holding him back from running his business properly.

'I'm only able to be out farming on the land or looking after stock 50% of the time,' he said. 'The rest of the time I'm in the office doing paperwork for the government and other authorities. 'We've got to the point where we have more civil servants in the industry than dairy farmers.'

Mr Shaw's predictions for the future are bleak.

'Farming is on its knees, so many people are giving up farming - people in their 30s and 40s - our next generation of farmers. 'I wonder if we'll have any farmers in the near future.'