HC Deb 23 June 1977 vol 933 cc510-2W
Mr. Michael Latham

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in what proportion of the cases in which his Department objected to the loss of good agricultural land in 1976, the grade of the land was I, II, III, IV and V, respectively, giving each figure separately.

Mr. Strang

Land which is the subject of planning application can cover more than one grade of land.

I regret that the information is not available.

Mr. Michael Latham

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has established an annual figure of agricultural land loss which should not be exceeded; if so, what that figure is; and what monitoring processes he carries out in this regard.

Mr. Strang

It would not be practicable to lay down an annual limit on the amount of agricultural land to be taken for development.

Mr. Michael Latham

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the approximate annual number of planning proposals referred to his Department so as to permit them to register objections against the loss of good agricultural land; and what is the approximate acreage of land involved each year.

Mr. Strang

In the six months ending 31st March 1977 local planning authorities in England and Wales referred to my Department 560 planning applications covering 18,836 acres, or 7,623 hectares.

Mr. Michael Latham

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why his Department only registered an objection to the loss of good agricultural land in about one-fifth of the cases referred to it since 1972; and what is the approximate total annual acreage to which (a) objection was made and (b) was not made to its loss.

Mr. Strang

I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave him on 17th March.—[Vol. 928, c.291.]

Four-fifths of the planning applications referred to my Department either did not run counter to the Government's policy set out in Department of the Environment Circular 75 of 17th August 1976, or the local planning authorities accepted the planning conditions proposed by my Department which would lead to the subsequent restoration of the land to agricultural use after mineral working.

Mr. Michael Latham

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in assessing whether to register an objection to the loss of good agricultural land, his Department regards it as a relevant or significant criterion that either the farmer himself is seeking planning permission or the applicant has the farmer's written consent to seek it.

Mr. Strang

No.

Mr. Michael Latham

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether his Department's comments are sought in respect of proposals to build on agricultural land by local authorities or other public bodies for their own purposes; whether such proposals are scrutinised in exactly the same way as those of other private applicants; and whether the proportion of objections made by his Department is approximately the same as are made to private applications.

Mr. Strang

Local authorities and other public bodies are required to consult my Department over the same range of developments as private developers and their proposals are considered in the same way.

I regret that my Department does not keep separate statistics for public and private development.