§ 13. Mr. AlexanderTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to revitalise the agricultural tenanted sector. [4140]
§ Mr. BoswellThe Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995, which came into force on 1 September, is designed to encourage landowners to let more land. The Act gives landlords and tenants much greater freedom to agree farm business tenancies that reflect their needs.
§ Mr. AlexanderI thank my hon. Friend for that reply, but is not the aim that he described rarely realised in practice? When a smallish block of 60 or 70 acres comes on the market, the young farmer does not get it because he is outbid by a neighbouring larger enterprise. According to the aims of the 1995 Act, one would have expected the younger person to be able to take it on.
§ Mr. BoswellThe Act has been in force for less than three months and it is early to assess its results, but the survey carried out by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, preparatory to the introduction of the Act, forecast that there would be increased opportunities generally, with a probability of a 10 per cent. overall uplift in the amount of land available for letting on tenancies of longer than a five-year term. I have every hope that, as the market settles down, there will be opportunities for new entrants.