§ Mr. WelshTo ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what area, in hectares and percentage terms, of environmentally sensitive areas in England is made up of productive, or potentially productive, agricultural land. [37131]
§ Mr. BoswellCurrent estimates of productive or potentially productive agricultural land within environmentally sensitive areas in England are:
22W
Environmentally sensitive areas Productive or potentially productive area (hectares) Percentage of total area designated Stage 1 ESAs (launched in 1987) Broads 24,000 67 Somerset Levels and Moors 25,800 93
Environmentally sensitive areas Productive or potentially productive area (hectares) Percentage of total area designated Pennine Dales 39,900 86 West Penwith 6,700 93 South Downs 51,700 75 Stage II ESAs (launched in 1988) Breckland 51,600 55 North Peak 50,500 92 Clun 17,600 82 Suffolk River Valleys 32,800 75 Test Valley 3,300 69 Stage III ESAs (launched in 1993) Avon Valley 3,800 73 Exmoor 67,700 84 Lake District 202,600 83 North Kent Marshes 12,200 83 South Wessex Downs 38,300 83 South West Peak 29,500 87 Stage IV ESAs (launched in 1994) Cotswold Hills 66,100 78 Dartmoor 84,500 84 Blackdown Hills 32,000 81 Essex Coast 21,300 79 Shropshire Hills 34,900 91 Upper Thames Tributaries 23,200 84 Total 920,000 80 The area given in the first column exclude woodland, urban areas—(e.g., built-up land, recreational/amenity land), mineral workings, roads, water (e.g. rivers and lakes), non-farmed land (e.g reedbed, swamp/marginal vegetation and saltmarsh) and unvegetated land (cliff/foreshore, mudflats and bare rock).