§ Mr. Heddleasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the acreage of land under agricultural cultivation in each county in England; and how this compares with the position of 1970, 1975 and 1980.
§ Mrs. FennerThe following table gives details of the areas of arable land in the counties of England as shown by the June agricultural censuses in 1970, 1975, 1980 and 1983, the latest year for which figures are available:
30W
Arable Land Hectares County 1970 Bedfordshire 74,531 Berkshire 92,754 Buckinghamshire 77,311 Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely 165,368 Cheshire 81,963 Cornwall 143,289 Cumberland 80,267 Derbyshire 56,380 Devon 213,074 Dorset 98,552 Durham 76,828 Essex 225,718 Gloucestershire 126,919 Greater London 11,023 Hampshire 163,348 Isles of Scilly 482 Isle of Wight 14,313 Herefordshire 90,099 Hertfordshire 82,885 Huntingdon and Peterborough 92,015 Kent 171,060 Lancashire 74,960 Leicestershire 94,199 Lincolnshire 479,990 Norfolk 342,868 Northamptonshire 125,139 Northumberland 117,029 Nottinghamshire 117,175 Oxfordshire 103,514 Rutland 23,321 Shropshire 148,023 Somerset 110,700 Staffordshire 88,156 Suffolk 257,504 Surrey 39,484 Sussex East 68,426 Sussex West 66,637 Warwickshire 107,893 Westmorland 15,886 Wiltshire 156,895 Worcestershire 72,541 Yorkshire—East Riding 221,633 Yorkshire—North Riding 182,200
County 1970 Yorkshire—West Riding 168,829 England 5,328,696
Hectares County 1975 1980 1983 Avon 32,105 31,724 31,429 Bedfordshire 73,541 75,227 76,018 Berkshire 51,240 50,956 51,412 Buckinghamshire 75,806 77,120 77,810 Cambridgeshire 257,947 259,301 259,184 Cheshire 72,070 72,272 68,199 Cleveland 20,619 20,686 20,797 Cornwall 116,188 109,473 106,827 Cumbria 84,626 85,157 78,560 Derbyshire 54,070 54,711 52,608 Devon 172,271 170,932 162,269 Dorset 100,101 100,121 99,791 Durham 57,689 56,363 59,008 East Sussex 54,625 54,521 53,964 Essex 225,218 223,178 226,683 Gloucestershire 109,842 112,456 114,597 Greater London 9,145 9,088 8,433 Greater Manchester 12,216 11,991 12,134 Hampshire 156,281 156,193 155,103 Hereford and Worcester 159,327 161,805 161,953 Hertfordshire 82,374 80,324 81,995 Humberside 248,114 249,481 252,126 Isles of Scilly 363 385 363 Isle of Wight 14,161 13,812 14,225 Kent 171,447 173,036 171,244 Lancashire 42,848 45,200 44,302 Leicestershire 118,672 121,468 122,610 Lincolnshire 439,049 443,041 449,918 Merseyside 15,379 14,970 14,923 Norfolk 346,365 345,746 349,992 North Yorkshire 284,279 289,574 292,690 Northamptonshire 121,924 125,964 130,289 Northumberland 112,307 117,161 120,041 Nottinghamshire 1118,089 117,052 121,098 Oxfordshire 142,880 145,597 147,447 Shropshire 145,230 150,709 151,070 Somerset 89,009 92,086 93,636 South Yorkshire 56,619 54,577 55,483 Staffordshire 83,961 84,633 84,508 Suffolk 255,618 253,834 256,088 Surrey 35,640 33,423 32,504 Tyne and Wear 12,612 12,180 12,260 Warwickshire 97,085 99,960 101,368 West Midlands 10,746 10,926 10,139 West Sussex 74,386 72,760 73,539 West Yorkshire 38,180 40,307 39,640 Wiltshire 160,109 160,435 161,770 England 5,212,823 5,241,917 5,262,096 Note:
Arable land is defined as the area of crops (including temporary fallow) and grasses under 5 years old. Other agricultural land includes areas of older grass, woodland and other land on agricultural holdings, and common rough grazings; all these are omitted from the above figures.
31WMany county boundaries changed in 1974 following the reorganisation of local government. Figures relate to the counties as defined in the years shown.
In 1975 there was a change in the definitions of grass areas. As a result the amount of grass included in the arable area fell by about 100,000 hectares, with a corresponding increase in the area of older grass.