§ Mr. Cordleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many acres of primarily productive land have been allocated for development and developed in the years since 1973.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettInformation on the area of agricultural land allocated for development in local authority development plans is not available on a national basis. Statistics of the acreage of land transferred from agricultural use in England and Wales are collected by MAFF as part of its annual agricultural census. The acreage of agricultural land transferred for development purposes generally averaged 68,000 acres per annum from June 1969 to June 1975. MAFF does not regard the figure for individual years or shorter periods as sufficiently reliable for publication. In the longer term the Department expects to obtain information on the acreage of agricultural land actually developed from local authorities.