§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how much and what areas of the United Kingdom have now been surveyed in a form suitable for use on the 1:25,000 record 85W series maps; what proportion of the area so surveyed has now been published; what is the timetable for publication of those areas which have been surveyed but not so far published; and if he will publish the timetable for surveying the remaining areas.
§ Mr. OakesA special survey is not carried out to produce maps at 1:25,000 scale. These maps are derived from 1:10,000 scale maps which it is planned will be available for the whole of Great Britain by about 1985.
The 1:25,000 second series is planned to provide national coverage in about 1,400 maps. To date 182 have been published and material is available for some 200 more. Completion of the series is not expected until the year 2000 at the present rate of publication of 40 sheets per year. Any acceleration of the programme would be at the expense of the much more widely used 1:50,000 and 1:10,000 series at present receiving priority. However, consultative bodies have been invited to suggest areas suitable for early publication within the programme.
Those sheets already published and scheduled for publication in the near future are spread fairly evenly over Great Britain with a heavier concentration in north-west Scotland where there are large areas which were not mapped at this scale in the last series.