HC Deb 06 November 1991 vol 198 cc162-3W
1990. Dr. David Clark

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give the hectarage, number of holdings and numbers of tenants of holdings of agricultural land owned by his Ministry in each county in England in(a) 1980 and (b)

Mr. Gummer

The information requested for 1980 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The information requested for 1990 is as follows.

Agricultural land owned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (excluding land managed by the Forestry Commission) 31 March 1990
County Hectarage Number of holdings Number of tenanted holdings
Bedfordshire 26 12 12
Cambridgeshire 404 4 2
Cornwall 50 1 0
Essex 38 1 1
Hampshire 653 4 2

County Hectarage Number of holdings Number of tenanted holdings
Hereford/Worcester 176 1 0
Hertfordshire 10 1 0
Kent 75 1 0
Lincolnshire 42 1 0
North Yorkshire 500 2 0
Norfolk 119 1 0
Nottinghamshire 199 1 0
Somerset 200 1 0
Suffolk 5 1 1
Surrey 133 2 0
Tyne and Wear 21 1 0
Warwickshire 280 2 0
Total 2,931 37 18

No central record is kept of the number of holdings or of the distribution by county, but information is available on the number of tenancies and grazing lets for each of the commission's conservancies. This is set out in the table.

Agricultural land owned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and managed by the Forestry Commission—31 March 1990
Conservancy Hectarage Number of tenancies Number of grazing lets
North 7,900 57 126
East 1,300 48 49
West 800 59 50
Total 10,000 164 225