§ Mr. Franksasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on notifications made to national park authorites by farmers for works on which they intend to claim farm capital grant.
§ Mr. WaldegraveSince October 1980 it has been an administrative condition of the farm capital grant schemes that a farmer in a national park shall notify the national park authority of any work which he intends to carry out and on which he intends to submit a claim for grant. This256W enables the authority to comment or suggest modifications for conservation purposes or, if agreement cannot be reached, to object to the payment of grant if a claim is submitted. Since the end of February 1983, following the implementation of section 41 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, national park authorities are required to offer a management agreement to any farmer who is refused farm capital grant in consequence of an objection by the authority.
The Countryside Commission has undertaken to analyse, from 1 April 1983, the results of this notification procedure. Figures for the six-month period April-September 1983 are now available and copies of the commission's report have been placed in the Library of the House.
Of 2,757 notifications processed, national park authorities had no comment on 86 per cent. and their conditional agreement was given to a further 9 per cent. In only 5 per cent. of the notifications (151) did the authorities seek modifications, and 145 of these were agreed by the farmers, mostly without any financial contribution from the national park authorities. Thus, at the end of the period, there were only six cases where agreement had not been reached between the farmer and the national park authority.
The report also draws attention to the fact that, in at least 10 per cent. of the cases, some or all of the work was carried out before the notification was made. This is disturbing, and farmers will be reminded that they put grant at risk if proper notification is not given before starting work. Apart from this, I find the report reassuring as it demonstrates that the vast majority of farmers are willing to modify farm improvement schemes, where necessary, for conservation reasons.