§ Lord Rentonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many acres of farm land have been taken out of production for development of all kinds each of the past 10 years, and how many are likely to be taken during the next five years.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Earl Ferrers)The following are estimates of land transferred out of agricultural use in England and Wales, excluding land for afforestation, in the past 10 years. Five-year averages are used to reduce the significance of errors in the annual figures.
A change in the method of collecting statistics caused a break in the series in 1974. It would not be meaningful to give averages for the period between 1970–71 and 1973–74 therefore. I regret that I am unable to forecast the figures for the next five years, although they are expected to continue to fall.
Net Annual Transfers Five- Year Periods Hectares (000 Acres) 1966–67 to 1970–71 20,200 (49.8) 1967–68 to 1971–72 25,200 (62.2) 1968–69 to 1972–73 27,000 (66.8) 1969–70 to 1973–74 26,700 (66.1) 1974–75 to 1978–79 19,900 (49.2) 1975–76 to 1979–80 19,000 (47.0)