HC Deb 08 July 1975 vol 895 cc130-2W
Mr. Pattie

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many sand and gravel aggregate companies own land designated as farmland within (a) the county of Surrey, (b) the district of Runnymede and (c) the borough of Elm-bridge; and if he will list them by name;

(2) how many acres of land designated as farmland are owned by sand and gravel aggregate companies (a) in the county of Surrey, (b) in the district of Runnymede and (c) in the borough of Elmbridge.

Mr. Oakes

I regret that the information requested is not available.

Mr. Pattie

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many acres of land designated as farmland (a) in the county of Surrey, (b) in the district of Runnymede and (c) in the borough of Elmbridge have suffered from sand and gravel excavation;

(2) how many acres of land designated as farmland in (a) the county of Surrey, (b) the district of Runnymede and (c) the Borough of Elmbridge, from which sand and gravel have been excavated, have been reinstated to their former use.

Mr. Oakes

Detailed information in the form requested is not available. An interim report of the local authority sand and gravel working party for the West London and Maidenhead areas published by the Standing Conference on London and South-East Regional Planning (February 1971) gives details of sand and gravel workings as at September 1969 in those areas which now constitute the Runnymede and Elmbridge county districts, as follows:

Hectares
Runnymede Elmbridge
Area worked and filled or restored 56 32
Area worked but not filled or restored 166 16
Area consented but un worked 142 62

These figures did not distinguish between areas left unfilled and those where water recreation takes place as an acceptable after-use. No comparable figures are available to the Department for the whole of Surrey but the 1974 survey of derelict and despoiled land indicates that at 1st April 1974 there were in the county 748 hectares of current sand and gravel workings and 393 hectares of unworked consented land. The survey indicates that these areas will be rehabilitated, although not necessarily to agriculture.

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