A DELAY in making a decision on a potential cull of badgers in West Wales until next year has been met with mixed reactions.

It had been planned to cull badgers in an area of North Pembrokeshire and surrounding Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion known as the "intensive action area," as part of a wider series of measures to tackle Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in both cattle and badgers.

Ministers shelved the cull last year after opponents The Badger Trust won a legal challenge at the Court of Appeal.

Fresh plans for a cull were announced earlier this year, but back in the summer, Welsh Environment Minister John Griffiths put it on hold after announcing a review of the scientific evidence.

A decision on the findings of the Bovine TB Science Review Panel was initially expected in Autumn and later expected before Christmas.

First Minister Carwyn Jones recently announced a postponement of the decision date in the Senedd, which is now expected in the early months of next year.

Farmers' Union of Wales president Emyr Jones said: "These continued delays are a betrayal of the Welsh farming industry's commitment to a holistic approach to controlling bovine TB.

"The farming community has acted in good faith since the commitment in 2008 by the previous administration that an holistic bTB eradication programme would be pursued. Nowhere is this more true than in intensive action area, where heightened cattle controls in anticipation of a badger cull have necessitated a complete restructuring of many farm businesses and significant increased financial and emotional pressures for all cattle keepers."

Welfare group The Badger Trust has welcomed the extra time to make a decision.

Whitland member Mike Sharratt said: "It is important that ministers take time to consider carefully the independent panel's review of the science without any further strident political interference. They should also consider the encouraging TB figures from the intensive action area which show the benefit of the stringent cattle-based controls now operating."