HL Deb 18 February 1987 vol 484 cc1197-8WA
Lord Melchett

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they can confirm that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is refusing to accept the finding of the Department of Environment's landscape monitoring project that the rate of loss of hedgerows has increased by nearly 40 per cent. in the period 1980–85, and that as a result the Department of Environment is planning a further major survey to monitor landscape changes, and whether they will state the expected cost of this further survey, and when the results will be available.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Skelmersdale)

Although the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology is giving further consideration to the relationship between the results of the Survey of Landscape Change carried out by Huntings Surveys and Consultants Ltd, and other surveys, the Government have no immediate plans to commission another major survey.