§ Lord SANDYSMy 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 whether they accept the findings of the Strutt Report, entitled Agriculture and the Countryside dated May 1978, and what measures they propose to remedy the loss of agricultural land.
§ Lord STRABOLGIMy Lords, the report of the Advisory Council on Agriculture and Horticulture in England and Wales is a valuable contribution to a subject which is becoming of increasing interest. Its recommendations are important and far-reaching, and they are now being considered carefully by the various Government Departments concerned.
§ Lord SANDYSMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Strabolgi, for that reply. Could he tell the House whether his right honourable friend is of the opinion that the adoption of a wider role for ADAS is going to benefit the position of the less-favoured areas in the United Kingdom?
§ Lord STRABOLGIMy Lords, the recommendations of the report that MAFF and ADAS should play a wider role in landscape and nature conservation have been generally welcomed. With regard to the less-favoured areas, as the noble Lord knows, Lord Porchester, in his report on Exmoor, recommended a wider involvement for ADAS in the uplands, and his recommendations have been generally accepted.
§ Lord DAVIES of LEEKMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that some of us are distressed by the apparent ruthless 1060 exploitation of agricultural land for cutting new roads? Will he urge Her Majesty's Government to conduct deep and searching research into the use of agricultural land for roadways and highways before granting a permit to destroy good agricultural land, thereby, I hope, helping to get more traffic back on the railways?
§ Lord STRABOLGIMy Lords, I agree that the steady increase in the amount of agricultural land taken for development is a cause for concern. There is an inexorable demand for land for housing, industry, roads and recreation which must be satisfied. The policy of successive Governments has been to steer development away from higher quality land on to land of a lower quality whenever possible, and to prevent too much land being taken for any one development.
§ Lord SANDYSMy Lords, arising out of that reply, and recognising what the noble Lord has said, may I ask him whether he would not agree that paragraph 70 of the report, in regard to call-in powers, is particularly relevant in this context, and that the association between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of the Environment seems particularly significant? Could the noble Lord say whether his right honourable friend is taking this matter further?
§ Lord STRABOLGIYes, my Lords; I am glad to say that MAFF is generally sympathetic to Strutt's recommendations on call-in procedures, and indeed to many of the other proposals.
§ Lord LOVATMy Lords, would the Minister consider that more attention should be paid to land reclamation? We have talked a lot about the loss of land, but in this country we lag far behind the Dutch and other nations who have reclaimed, in the case of Holland, about one-third of their very high quality agricultural land, which is second to none in the world. We have estuaries that wash down alluvial mud all along the East Coast, which if properly plodded—the plodder bank system, which is no longer expensive in relation to the cost of land—would reclaim a large amount of the 50,000 acres of agricultural land which are being lost every year.
§ Lord STRABOLGIYes, my Lords. While our problems are rather different from Holland's, all the same that is a very important aspect which is taken into account.
§ The Earl of LAUDERDALEMy Lords, would the noble Lord not agree that the inexorable demand for land for industry, housing, recreation and the rest really applies to the Midlands and the South-East, and that the proper answer is a more vigorous policy in relation to the relocation of industry in favour of the Highlands and Borders of Scotland and, for that matter, the noble Lord's country of Wales?
§ Lord STRABOLGIYes, my Lords; I am sure that is a very interesting and important suggestion which will be considered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and my right honourable friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales.
§ Lord SANDYSMy Lords, there are 36 recommendations in the report. Would the noble Lord's right honourable friends give consideration to the publication of a White Paper on this subject?
§ Lord STRABOLGIMy Lords, I will certainly put forward that suggestion to my right honourable friend.
§ Lord BARNBYMy Lords, would the Minister feel that the increasing efficiency of the National Health Service will achieve longevity to a greater extent than at present and lessen the pressure on land for new cemeteries?
§ Lord STRABOLGIYes, my Lords; and one of my ambitions is to live as long as the noble Lord.