§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will estimate how many charity-owned farms there are in Wales, and in each county in Wales, and which charities are involved;
(2) how many charity-owned farms exist within the present environmentally sensitive areas in Wales; arid which charities are involved.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerRecords are not kept of the number of charity-owned farms in Wales and there is no information available on which to base an estimate.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement concerning the position of tenants of charity-owned farms in relation to the environmentally sensitive areas scheme in Wales.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe position of tenants of charity-owned farms in relation to the environmentally sensitive area scheme in Wales depends on the particular circumstances of the tenancy agreement and each case would be treated on its merits.
A possible conflict would arise only if the charity that owns the land has received public money in connection with the purchase or management of the land.
If the tenant pays a full agricultural rent and has a normal tenancy agreement there should be no reason why he could not qualify for an ESA management agreement. lf, however, the tenancy agreement requires him to farm in an environmentally sensitive way, and in return he pays a lower rent, it would be necessary to consider carefully whether the further benefit of ESA payment would be justified.