§ Sir C. Thornton-Kemsleyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the figures of the net decreases in agricultural area in Scotland from 1939 up to the present date in a similar form to the reply given by the Minister of Agriculture to the hon. Member for Newbury on 4th May, 1959.
§ Mr. MaclayMy information on the net losses of agricultural land to other uses does not go back further than the year 1951–52 (May-June), and is incomplete, since it is based on information provided voluntarily by farmers in connection with their agricultural returns, and relates only to changes affecting crops and grass acreages and excludes land converted into forestry and allotments.
construction, the position is, of course, that where needs have been largely met, any balance may not be such as to call for further building by the authority at the present time.