HC Deb 11 January 1990 vol 164 c679W
74. Mr. Favell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much agricultural land was released for residential development in 1988 and in 1978.

Mr. Moynihan

My Department's land use change data show that in 1988 the Ordnance Survey recorded 3,700 hectares of land in England as changing from agricultural to residential use. Figures for 1978 are not available in this series. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Chope), gave my hon. Friend some MAFF data for earlier years, including 1978 on 14 December 1988 but the two sets of data are not directly comparable.