HC Deb 10 February 1981 vol 998 c312W
Mr. Colin Shepherd

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report the key sites of special scientific interest in the Nature Conservancy Council's "A Nature Conservation Review" which have been created or preserved by agricultural or forestry practice; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Monro

The majority of key sites, in common with the rest of the British countryside, show the effects of agricultural and forestry practice dating back to ancient times. It is not possible except at disproportionate cost to compile a list of those where such effects contribute directly to the scientific interest, but low-intensity agricultural or forestry practice is a factor in safeguarding the qualities of a number of sites in such habitats as chalk grasslands, lowlands meadows and coppiced woodlands.