Agriculture: Less-favoured Areas (Hansard, 24 May 1984)

§ Baroness Elliot of Harwood
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Belstead)
My Lords, the exact number of farmers who will qualify for additional assistance following the recent extension to the less-favoured areas is not known, since it will depend on their satisfying the eligibility criteria for capital grants and hill livestock compensatory allowances. However, we estimate that there are about 28,000 holdings entirely within the new area and a further 8,000 partly within them. We expect a substantial proportion of these to take advantage of the new aids.

§ Baroness Elliot of Harwood
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord very much for that Answer. I am sure that it will encourage the farmers in less-favoured areas. I hope that this scheme will not be delayed, but will be pursued as vigorously as possible.

§ Lord Belstead
My Lords, if the House agrees to the statutory instrument that is on the Order Paper for consideration later this afternoon, the new rates of capital allowances will come into effect; and they will be deemed to have done so as from 29th February. So far as the hill livestock compensatory allowances are concerned, having had consultations with the farmers' unions on the rates, we believe that it is right to try to introduce these as from 1st January of the new year.

Lord Hunt
My Lords, does not the Minister agree that these extended benefits under the terms of EEC Directive 75/268, while very welcome, are not necessarily beneficial to environmental interests? Do they not tend to encourage upland ploughing and fencing, as well as the construction of access roads and prefabricated farm buildings in some areas where such developments would be detrimental to the landscape and scenery? In these circumstances, is it not very important to abide by the full terms of EEC Directive 75/268, which refers to not only the necessity to promote agricultural needs, but also the requirement to preserve the countryside?

§ Lord Belstead
My Lords, I understand the concern of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt. Since the noble Lord 328 specifically mentioned road construction, perhaps I should say that that is the one exception to the increase in the rates of capital grants which was the subject of my noble friend's Question today.
On the noble Lord's more general point, perhaps I may reply by saying that grants at the higher rate in the new less-favoured areas will still be conditional on the farmer's commitment to have regard to conservation. A farmer applying for a grant must have signed a declaration that he has had regard to conservation. The extension of the less-favoured areas will in no way affect the special prior notification procedures in the specially sensitive areas; in other words, the National Parks and SSSIs, where grant schemes require mandatory consultation with the appropriate authorities.
Furthermore, may I make the point that last November my right honourable friend the Minister approved higher grant rates in the less-favoured areas for such items as shelter belts and traditional stone walling. This means that the higher grant rates for conservation purposes will now extend to the new less-favoured areas.

§ Lord Mackie of Benshie
My Lords, does not the Minister agree that the most endangered species in the less-favoured areas are the sheep farmers? Without these grants, there would be no population, and then the area would not be nearly as attractive as it is at present.

§ Lord Belstead
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Mackie of Benshie. Although I was not able to give an exact figure in reply to my friend's original Question about the number of farmers who would qualify, we know that as a result of making this successful application to the European Commission, some 9.8 million hectares of land, representing about 53 per cent. of the United Kingdom's total agricultural land, will now have LFA status.

§ Lord John-Mackie
My Lords, arising out of the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, I am sure that the Minister appreciates that the Farm and Wildlife Association, which is run mostly by farmers, is having a tremendous effect in regard to dealing with the very problem he is afraid of. I thought that I would just make that point. The Minister mentioned a figure of 28,000 farmers within the new area and a further 8,000 farmers who may come into the picture, within the less-favoured areas. The latter have to be decided by Ministry officials. Is the Minister happy that that will be an easy job for the officials? My experience is that if one looks at less-favoured areas in Devon, one finds that they would be considered to be very favoured areas in Scotland.

§ Lord Belstead
It is not easy, my Lords, but by giving publicity locally the Ministry has now been in touch with all the farmers who we believe are in the less-favoured areas. We have asked the farmers in the parishes concerned to write to their Ministry divisional offices, giving plans of their farms, with grid references and field numbers. As the noble Lord, Lord John-Mackie, quite rightly said, it is at that moment that it will not be entirely easy to be absolutely certain as to 329 whether a holding is inside or outside the less-favoured area. It is for that reason that my right honourable friend the Minister has given a commitment that there will be a representations procedure, about which we shall announce details in due course. So no farmers will be able to feel that bureaucratic decisions are being taken without their having an opportunity to express their own views.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, is the noble Lord the Minister aware that the most endangered species are not the sheep farmers, but the small dairy farmers? Is he aware that I am receiving a large volume of correspondence from small dairy farmers in Wales? I am perfectly sure that he and his right honourable friend are receiving a much larger volume of correspondence. Has the Minister been able to calculate how many dairy farmers will benefit from the new boundaries and from the new benefits which will come from the new less-favoured areas? This seems to me to be absolutely crucial at the present time. A substantial sector of the agricultural life of this country will be very badly affected, if nothing is done to assist it.

§ Lord Belstead
My Lords, of course I understand the importance of the noble Lord's question. I cannot answer as to how many dairy farmers will benefit by now falling within the new less-favoured areas. But those who do will benefit from higher capital grants, if they are eligible for them. So far as the co-responsibility levy is concerned, again dairy farmers in the new less-favoured areas will benefit from a reduction in the payments which they have to make to that particular levy.