§ Mr. J. Morrisonasked the Minister of Agriculture what acreage of land, to the nearest convenient date, is in the posession of the Forestry Commission and is unplanted; what acreage of this land is either cultivated or stocked; and what acreage is scheduled for planting in the next three years.
Mr. T. WilliamsThe unplanted area in Great Britain at the disposal of the Forestry Commission on 30th September, 1950, was 684,000 acres of which 238,000 acres are classified as unplantable owing118W to the high elevation of the land. Part of this unplantable land is let for rough grazings. Of the 446,000 acres remaining 112,00 will remain in agriculture and are either cultivated or stocked, 12,000 are let with forest workers' holdings, 2,000 are used for forest tree nurseries and 320.000 acres (of which 82,000 are old woodlands) will be planted. Of the area to be planted 185,000 acres are temporarily let for agricultural purposes. The acreage to be planted in the next three years has been provisionally fixed at 190,000 acres.