§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many acres of hill and marginal land have been reclaimed in England during each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. StrangThe acreage of land reclaimed is only available where the work has been done with the aid of grant and then only in certain cases in respect of hill land. No acreage figures are available for work on marginal land or under the Hill Farming and Livestock Rearing Land Acts or, separately for hill land, under the superseded ploughing grants, orchard grubbing, rabbit scrub clearance and grassland renovation schemes.
The figures available for hill land are:
(a) Hill Land Improvement Scheme England and Wales Financial Year Acres 1967–68* … … … … 355 1968–69* … … … … 69,159 1969–70* … … … … 173,892 1970–71* … … … … 192,597 1971–72* … … … … 145,156 1972–73* … … … … 45,585 1973–74* … … … … 18,503 * Separate figures not available.
(b) Farm Capital Grant Scheme Financial Year England 1971–72 … … … … 122,453 1972–73 … … … … 163,183 1973–74 … … … … 167,345 1974–75 … … … … 137,752 1975–76 … … … … 124,105 Wales 1971–72 … … … … 25,089 1972–73 … … … … 48,789 1973–74 … … … … 72,090 1974–75 … … … … 75,423 1975–76 … … … … 61,275 England and Wales 1971–72 … … … … 147,542 1972–73 … … … … 211,972 1973–74 … … … … 239,435 1974–75 … … … … 213,175 1975–76 … … … … 185,380