§ 86. Mr. Snowasked the Minister of Agriculture the date on which his Department agreed to the request of the planning authority, that the frontage on field O.S. 244 at Tamworth be released from agriculture so that building development might proceed; why the farmer in question, Mr. P. H. Mercer, was not given proper notice; and why the release was not postponed until the crop had been reaped.
§ Sir T. DugdaleHouses had previously been built on adjoining land and the use140W of the frontage of this field, O.S. 244, for building was agreed in the spring of 1951 by the local planning authority in the light of general pressure from my Department that such gaps should be filled up whenever it was appropriate before any better farmland was absorbed. Specific agricultural clearance from my Department was not thought necessary.
I do not know why the owner did not give the occupier notice of intention to enter the land, but as the hon. Member is aware, it is very doubtful whether a tenancy existed. I have no knowledge of any interference with the harvesting of a crop from this field, although there was some difficulty over field O.S. 237.