§ 2.38 p.m.
§ LORD SORENSENMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government to what extent the recommendations of the Merthyr Report of 1955 have been implemented; whether since then any further systematic investigation into the loss and preservation of hedge-rows and small woodlands has been undertaken; and whether planting and afforestation have counterbalanced the destruction of trees in the United Kingdom during the past ten years.]
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I would refer my noble friend to the detailed Answer given to a Question on the Merthyr Report by the then Minister of Agriculture on March 13, 1958. Government action promised in that Answer has been undertaken. The question of loss of hedgerows has been receiving close attention recently and is the subject of a number of investigations at the present time.
With regard to the final part of the noble Lord's Question, following the afforestation of 440,000 acres by the Forestry Commission, and about 350,000 acres by private owners, there are now more trees in the United Kingdom than there were ten years ago.
§ LORD SORENSENMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for his reply, and also for the particulars which he has so kindly sent me and to which he referred in his Answer, may I ask him whether the Government of to-day and their predecessors in office have implemented the statement made on that occasion in 1958, that they proposed to take such steps as might be appropriate on the detailed recommendations? Could my noble friend say exactly how that statement has been implemented?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, there are a number of recommendations—47 in all. I think I might say, without being unkind, that a number of them are more in the nature of exhortations than recommendations, and it can be claimed, as I have said, that action has been taken.
§ LORD SORENSENMy Lords, while again thanking my noble friend, may I ask him whether he is aware that even though one appreciates the need for the more economic development of agriculture, it is alleged that in certain parts of the country many hedgerows are being dug up and many woodlands are being destroyed quite needlessly?
§ LORD BESWICKYes, my Lords, I understand my noble friend's interest, and indeed the interest of the House generally, in this subject. It has sparked quite an interesting exchange recently, but the Ministry of Agriculture do not advise the indiscriminate removal of hedgerows; although on occasions there is a clear agricultural need to remove them.