HC Deb 06 February 1986 vol 91 cc419-20
4. Dr. Marek

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what financial provision will be made in 1986 for payments in environmentally sensitive areas under the Agriculture Bill 1985.

Mr. Jopling

We estimate that expenditure in a full year will be £6 million if, as intended, five or six areas are designated during 1986. Expenditure during 1986 will depend on the timing of environmentally sensitive area designation and the conditions applicable to each area.

Dr. Marek

Will the Minister confirm that the expenditure will be for the first tranche of areas to be so designated? Will there be further tranches? If so, when will they be announced, and how much further expenditure does he envisage?

Mr. Jopling

We shall have to see how we get on with what we hope will be the first five or six areas. Any extension will depend on the availability of cash at the time.

Sir John Farr

I ask my right hon. Friend to be a little more forthcoming. Who are likely to be the recipients in the environmentally sensitive areas, and for what purposes will the moneys be paid over?

Mr. Jopling

In general, we are seeking to preserve traditional and historic types of activity in areas where such activity is threatened. We want to encourage people who are carrying out, let us say, a grazing policy, in areas which are threatened with being ploughed up for large acres of grain, to keep that form of husbandry.

Mr. Dalyell

For those of us who were in Committee, will the Minister expand on the two words in his original answer, "as intended"?

Mr. Jopling

The hon. Gentleman will know that in Committee my right hon. Friend the Minister of State made it clear that we were intending to designate five or six areas during 1986. The words "as intended" were a way of describing our intention.

Mr. Marlow

Is the money available within the common agricultural policy? Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, even if it is not available within the CAP, the policy—as a proportion of overall Community expenditure—will not cost any more this year than last year?

Mr. Jopling

The first step that we took after the British initiative was to allow such schemes to take place under Community law. Currently, there is no Community money available to implement these schemes. Therefore, those five or six schemes will be financed through our own financial resources. I am glad to tell my hon. Friend that the Treasury has agreed to that.

Mr. Home Robertson

Does the Minister's first reply mean that there will be no further areas designated during the course of the first five years? Incidentally, is there not enough gobbledegook in the English language without introducing "environmentally sensitive areas" and the inevitable initials ESAs? Why not use the phrase "heritage areas"?

Mr. Jopling

I understand that in Committee the hon. Gentleman was invited to find a better phrase. He has found a better phrase. Having thought about it for the past five seconds or so, I am not sure that it is better than ours.