POLICE are bracing themselves for a possible increase in activism during the upcoming badger cull in West Somerset.

More than 2,000 badgers will be killed within a 300sqkm pilot zone in a bid to tackle the effects of TB on the cattle farming industry.

Police this week admitted they have been carrying out training drills in a bid to combat possible action by anti-cull activists.

Superintendent Kevin Instance said: “In advance of and during the cull our primary concern is safety. We will be doing all we can to keep our communities safe and to make sure they feel safe.

“We cannot go into details for operational reasons but we are ready to respond to any criminality or public disorder. It is common to test operational plans rigorously to ensure they work and this includes checking them against different scenarios.

"Throughout the cull we will work to strike the right balance between facilitating peaceful protests, allowing the cull to take place in accordance with the licence and ensuring the community can go about their lives with minimum interference.”

Trained marksmen will be covered by a licence issued by Natural England in March to kill 70% of the zone’s badger population over six consecutive weeks any time between June 1 and January 31.

Many individuals and groups from the area and beyond, including high-profile figures such as Queen guitarist Brian May, have voiced strong opposition to the cull.

The extent of problems caused by tension between activists who have vowed to disrupt the pilot and those carrying it out is as yet unknown.

But initial estimates on the cost of extra policing caused by the cull in Somerset have been set at £500,000 by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Home Office.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will fund the extra policing needed.

A Defra spokesperson said: “The police’s job is to ensure that lawful activity can be undertaken, whether that be the right to protest or the right to cull. Bovine TB is a devastating disease.

"It now costs the taxpayer £100million a year and left unchecked, will cost the taxpayer £1billion over the next decade. This is a ministerial priority.”