HC Deb 26 July 1989 vol 157 cc753-4W
Mr. Home Robertson

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for East Lothian on 19 July, if he will give the average acreages of the whole farms which have been set aside in each county in England and Wales.

Mr. Maclean

The table shows county averages of the area set aside per farm by those participants in the scheme who in the crop year 1988–89 set aside the whole area used in the base year 1987–88 for relevant arable crops.

Average area set-aside (Hectares)
England
Avon 24.3
Bedfordshire 51.2
Berkshire 29.5
Buckinghamshire 33.8
Cambridge 36.6
Cheshire 12.3
Cleveland 15.1
Cornwall 29.7
Cumbria 153.1
Derbyshire 14.6
Devon 15.3
Dorset 29.4
Durham 26.0
Essex 31.5
Gloucestershire 31.3
Hampshire 36.0
Hereford and Worcester 28.6
Hertfordshire 46.3
Humberside 9.7
Isle of Wight
Kent 32.4
Lancashire
Leicestershire 26.7
Lincolnshire 76.0
Greater London 38.1
Greater Manchester
Merseyside
West Midlands 19.3
Norfolk 13.6
Northamptonshire 32.2
Northumberland 54.7
Nottinghamshire 55.1
Oxfordshire 26.5
Shropshire
Somerset 40.9
Staffordshire 28.1
Suffolk 18.6
Surrey 51.0
East Sussex 27.5
West Sussex 30.4
Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire 25.8
Wiltshire 54.0
North Yorkshire 17.5
South Yorkshire 13.7
West Yorkshire 16.4
England average 29.8

Average area set-aside (Hectares)
Wales
Dyfed 18.7
Gwent 38.4
Wales average 24.6