§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the acreage and value of560W land sold by farmers for non-agricultural purposes for each of the last 10 years expressed (a) in current prices and (b) as a percentage of total land sales by farmers. [57502]
§ Mr. Rooker[holding answer 2 November 1998]: I regret that the information requested is not available. Information on sales of agricultural land does not distinguish between land used for agriculture and for other purposes. The official statistics on agricultural land sales include an analysis by type of purchaser (e.g. to individuals or various categories of corporate purchaser) but specifically exclude sales of agricultural land for development and non-agricultural purposes. The area of agricultural land on agricultural holdings is recorded in the annual June agricultural census. This area is shown to have declined by 429 thousand hectares (2.4%) in the UK since 1988 but there is no reliable information on the new use of this land.