§ Mr. James Davidsonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what acreages of arable, pasture, and hill land, respectively, in each of Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales have been diverted from agriculture to other purposes since 1966, and to what other purposes it has been put.
§ Mr. John MackieThe net loss of agricultural land to other purposes in the period from June, 1966, to June, 1968, is estimated as follows:
('000 acres) England and Wales Scotland Northern Ireland General urban development - 84.9 - 15.2 - 5.3 Forestry and private woodlands - 21.4 - 101.3 - 6.6 Other changes + 9.5 - 4.5 - 2.6 Total - 96.8 -121.0 - 14.5 Information as to the categories of agricultural land involved is not available.
§ Mr. James Davidsonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what acreage of agricultural land has been reclaimed since 1966 in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales, respectively.
§ Mr. John MackieI regret that I have no separate statistics of the acreage of land being reclaimed, in the sense of land newly available for agricultural use as distinct from land transferred from public ownership, for example, to private agricultural use, or land already in agricultural use which after improvement enters a higher productive category.