§ Mr. Mitchisonasked the Minister of Agriculture in what parishes the Northamptonshire County Council has acquired land for smallholdings under Part IV of the Agriculture Act, 1947; what acreage has been so acquired in each parish; what steps have been taken by the council towards providing smallholdings under Part IV; and how many smallholdings, part-time and full-time, have been provided in each parish and of what average acreage.
§ Sir T. DugdaleSince Part IV of the Agriculture Act, 1947, came into operation the Northamptonshire County Council has purchased for smallholdings 171 acres of land previously held on lease, all within the Parish of Silverstone. When re-organised this land should provide four full-time holdings.
Proposals for the Council for the acquisition of land for smallholdings in the Parishes of Tansor, Southwick and Pattishall were not approved owing to the very high rate of loss involved or for other reasons. The Council has also submitted four proposals for improving existing holdings and a proposal to acquire five acres to add to an existing smallholding.
On 31st March, 1951, the Council had 34 full-time smallholdings on 2,469 acres and 55 part-time holdings on 1,048 acres. My Department has no information showing the distribution of these holdings by parishes.
198W
§ Mr. Mitchisonasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will state, county by county, the acreage and number of smallholdings acquired and provided under Part IV of the Agriculture Act, 1947, during the first year after it came into force and subsequently to the latest convenient date; and in each case what part of such acreage and number consists of part-time holdings.
§ Sir T. DugdaleThe First Annual Report on Smallholdings under the Agriculture Act, 1947, recently presented to Parliament, a copy of which I have sent to the hon. Member shows, county by county, the acreage acquired for smallholdings during the period from 1st October, 1949, to 31st March, 1951. In all 1,929 acres, of which 1,855 were purchased and the remainder hired, were acquired during the period, and, in addition, 579 acres previously- held on lease were purchased.
The Report also shows the total number of smallholdings on 31st March, 1951. It is not possible to say how many of the holdings included in that number were actually provided on land acquired under the 1947 Act, since several schemes approved under the Act have not yet been completed, but when all the schemes approved during the period are completed some 91 new smallholdings should be provided. Other full-time smallholdings of the standards envisaged by the Smallholdings Advisory Council in their First Report have been provided by re-organising and equipping existing smallholdings properties, but information about these is not available.
Until statistics for the period 1st April, 1951, to 31st March, 1952, are available it is not possible to give the acreage and numbers of smallholdings acquired after 31st March, 1951. Since that date, and up to 30th June, 1952, schemes have been approved which, when completed, should provide 63 new full-time smallholdings on 2,832 acres.
No schemes for creating new part-time holdings have been approved.
§ Mr. Mitchisonasked the Minister or Agriculture whether he will state, as regards each scheme submitted under Section 50 of the Agriculture Act. 1947, since 199W it came into force, the name of the smallholdings authority, the dates of submission and approval and the total estimated cost of the proposals, respectively.
§ Sir T. DugdaleThe detailed information asked for is not readily available. From 1st October, 1949, when Part IV of the Agriculture Act, 1947, came into operation, to 30th June last, 589 schemes for providing new smallholdings or improving existing smallholdings have been approved under Section 50 of the Act. The total estimated cost of carrying out these schemes is £2,077,664. These figures exclude any schemes, costing less than £500 each, which smallholdings authorities have carried out without Exchequer grant.
§ Mr. Mitchisonasked the Minister of Agriculture how many unsatisfied applicants for smallholdings there are in Northamptonshire.
§ Sir T. DugdaleThe latest number of applicants for county council smallholdings in Northamptonshire is 148. Of these 108 were considered suitable for interview. 58 have been interviewed so far, and 45 of these have been classified for preference in accordance with the Selection of Tenants Regulations.