§ Mr. Ronald Atkinsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what area 517W of land has been used for road building and associated works for each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of this was in agricultural use.
§ Dr. GilbertI regret that the information requested is not readily available. However, using average figures for the land taken by different types of construction it is estimated that over the last 10 years approximately 19,500 acres of land in rural areas have been taken for motorway and trunk road building. Information is not available as to the proportion formerly in agricultural use, nor as to the amount of land taken for local authority road building.