§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of land within each environmentally sensitive area is currently being farmed under the restrictive rules in return for payment.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonIt will not be possible to provide a definitive estimate of the percentage of land covered by ESA arrangements until we have completed our detailed land cover survey of each ESA. Our provisional estimate of the area of land being farmed under ESA agreements in England is shown below.
ESA Area covered by agreements (ha) The Broads 16,749 Pennine Dales 8,403 Somerset Levels and Moors 8,181 South Downs 3,104 West Penwith 5,646 1 This does not include land farmed under the Broads grazing marsh conservation scheme in 1987.