§ Mr. Gwynfor Evansasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on how hill land eligible for support grant is defined.
§ Mr. John MorrisLand in England and Wales which was eligible for the full range of hill subsidies before 1st January 1976 was re-defined as a "Less-Favoured Area" under Directive 75/268 EEC. This definition appears in the Farm and Horticulture Development Scheme (SI 1976 No. 743) The Farm Capital Grant Scheme (SI 1976 No. 547) and the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1975 (SI 1975 No. 2210) and reads as follows
Less-Favoured Area" means land:
- (a) Which is situated in an area included in the list of Less-Favoured Farming areas
143 adopted by the Council of the European Communities under Article 2 of the Council Directive No. 75/268/EEC of 28th April 1975 (Official Journal No. L 128, 19 May 1975 P.1.) and consists predominantly of mountains, hills or heath and - (b) which is, or by improvement could be made, suitable for use for the breeding, rearing and maintenance of sheep or cattle but not, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, for the carrying on, to any material extent, of dairy farming, the production to any material extent, of fat sheep or fat cattle or the production of crops in quantity materially greater than that necessary to feed the number of sheep or cattle capable of being maintained on the land."