HC Deb 25 March 1969 vol 780 cc1243-4
6. Mr. Peter Mills

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government in view of Her Majesty's Government's policy for expanding agriculture, what steps he is taking to keep to a minimum the use of fertile agricultural land for industrial and other purposes and to ensure that industrial expansion is restricted to the use of poorer land.

Mr. K. Robinson

The need to preserve good agricultural land is a fundamental consideration in planning and is always in the minds of my right hon. Friend and the local planning authorities. But it is not the only consideration, and others sometimes have to prevail.

Mr. Mills

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the rape of the countryside is alarming? Bearing in mind the hundreds of thousands of acres of good agricultural land being used, will he see that far more care is taken in the choice of sites for roads and industrial and other purposes to ensure that they use the poorer land?

Mr. Robinson

I would not go all the way with the hon. Gentleman on the first part of his supplementary question. These are never easy matters. If there is a straightforward choice, poorer quality land is always chosen, but the circumstances are rarely as simple as that.

Mr. Kenneth Lewis

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the claims on agricultural land now come from every direction? For example, the claims for reservoirs are becoming so extensive that the loss of agricultural land, much of it good, is serious. If this is taken into account, as he said, the claims should be reduced.

Mr. Robinson

We do take these things into account, but there are the demands for water and for land for development. I and my Department must balance these needs.

Mr. W. Baxter

Is my right hon. Friend fully seized of the importance of this question? Some of us are of the opinion that the encroachment upon good agricultural land is going ahead by leaps and bounds and that no real control exists between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Housing Departments. Would my right hon. Friend look into the matter again, because posterity will either condemn or support him?

Mr. Robinson

I wholly deny that there is no co-ordination in these matters. The claims of agriculture are always paramount in Ministers' considerations in planning matters, and they are very carefully weighed in the balance. As I have said, we have to provide land for development and for services such as water.