64. Mr. Slaterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of farms not yet provided with a water supply in the Darlington rural area; and what assistance his Department is giving to have such service installed.
Mr. AmoryMy information, which is not complete, is that out of the 450 farms in the Darlington Rural District 254 have a mains water supply and 99 have not. The question of mains supply is primarily one for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government. My Department makes grants to farmers towards the approved cost of distributing water from the mains over the farm, or where a main is not available, towards the development of a private source scheme. To date 50 farms in the Darlington area have taken advantage of these grants.