§ Mr. Martenasked the Minister of Land and Natural Resources what are the current annual receipts of the Forestry Fund on account of charges made by the Commission to those riding horses or ponies over their land; and whether he will instruct the Commission to cease to levy this toll, which is not imposed in similar circumstances in respect of public parks and mostly privately owned land.
§ Mr. WilleySince it was only in May of this year that the Forestry Commission decided to levy their current charges on commercial users (to which I assume the hon. Member refers) this information is not yet available. Previously the Commission made a small annual charge in some cases to regular riders over their land; these amounts were not recorded separately and it would not be possible to ascertain the annual figure without a disproportionate amount of work.
370WI see no reason to instruct the Commission to discontinue these charges, which are made in the ordinary course of managing their estate, since it is only reasonable that they should obtain some return when they allow facilities of this kind.