HC Deb 17 December 1987 vol 124 cc724-5W
30. Mr. Oppenheim

To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are his proposed rates of payment for the farm woodland scheme.

Mr. Gummer

The proposed rates of payment under the farm woodland scheme are as follows:

  • £190 per hectare a year in the lowlands;
  • £150 per hectare a year in the disadvantaged areas, which are sometimes known as the new less-favoured areas and
  • £100 per hectare a year in the severely disadvantaged areas, which are sometimes known as the original less-favoured areas.

These will apply to arable land and improved grassland up to 10 years old.

Up to 3,000 hectares of more marginal agricultural land will also be eligible during the three-year experimental period at a rate of £30 per hectare a year.

34. Mr. Andrew Bowden

To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made in developing a scheme to encourage farmers to plant woodlands on their farms.

Mr. Gummer

We issued a consultation document on the farm woodland scheme earlier this year. The Farm Land and Rural Development Bill which provides enabling powers for this scheme was introduced in another place on 21 October and the Government announced details of their revised proposals for the scheme on Second Reading of the Bill. The details were also set out in Ministry press notice No. 336/87, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.