§ 72. Mr. BaldryTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the uptake of grant in the environmentally sensitive areas.
§ Mr. GummerWe estimate that grant payments to farmers for the first year of operation in the first five English ESAs will amount to some £3 million.
§ 75. Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the effects of the introduction of environtally sensitive areas.
§ Mr. GummerWe are in the process of establishing a monitoring programme to assess the effects of environmentally sensitive areas. This will collect and analyse data on landscape, wildlife, historic features, farming practices and socio-economic developments. Our objective will be to assess the scheme's effects on those inter-related items. I hope to publish a first report, as required by section 18(8) of the Agriculture Act 1986, during the course of 1988.
§ 82. Mr. ChapmanTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what impact the environmentally sensitive areas scheme has had on conservation; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GummerFarmers who applied to join the ESA scheme in the first year have been following the scheme conditions for 10 months. The impact of ESAs on conservation will be a gradual process, and to take account of that we will be monitoring its effects over the next five years. In the first year we have established a baseline of information on the land use, landscape, ecology and historic features of each area against which we will be able to monitor future trends.