Mr. Watkinsasked the Minister of Agriculture what progress is being made by each of the county councils in Wales to provide smallholdings; how many applicants are now waiting for smallholdings; how many have been on the waiting
PROVISION AND IMPROVEMENT OF SMALLHOLDINGS BY COUNTY COUNCILS IN WALES FROM 1ST OCTOBER, 1949 TO 31ST MARCH, 1954 County Acreage of land acquired Number of new holdings provided Number of existing holdings enlarged Number of existing holdings improved Number of applicants settled Number of approved applicants on waiting list at 31.3.54 Anglesey … — — — 39 22 112 Brecon … — — — 16 6 9 Caernarvon … — — — 6 1 4 Cardigan … 81 — — — — 15 Carmarthen … 139 2 1 35 9 62 Denbigh … — — — 69 20 125 Flint … 27 — 3 184 23 92 Glamorgan … 339 — — 94 33 129 Merioneth … — — — 15 7 42 Monmouth … 333 6 1 56 18 149 Montgomery … 495 7 — 180 49 170 (b) Pembroke … — — — 29 11 waiting list not kept Radnor … — — — 11 10 35 TOTALS … 1,414(a) 15 5 734 209 944 (a) Includes land where the work of equipment to provide new holdings is still in progress. (b) Includes 16 smallholdings tenants who have applied for larger holdings. The main emphasis has been on improving existing smallholdings so that they may provide a reasonable livelihood for the occupier. Exact information on how many applicants have been on the waiting list for over two years could be obtained only by a special inquiry involving county councils in more work than I think would be justified; but the number is estimated at about 600.