§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will place in the Library a copy of the operating instructions under which the Forestry Commission will carry out its procedures in respect of new planting in the light of the Environmental Assessment (Afforestation) Regulations; 1988.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe commission will shortly be publishing a leaflet on the procedures to be followed in respect of environmental assessment for afforestation projects. Copies of this leaflet will be placed in the Library of the House as soon as they are available.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, pursuant to his answer of 19 July, he will set out the ways in which the procedures to be adopted for new planting by the Forestry Commission will differ from those laid down in the Environmental Assessment (Afforestation) Regulations 1988 in respect of new planting by the private sector.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe procedures to be followed by the Forestry Commission in respect of its own new planting proposals differ from those set out in the regulations only in respect of those requirements which are clearly inappropriate. For example, the commission would not seek a direction from Ministers against its own decision to carry out an environmental assessment in any case.