§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are being used to assess the programme of protecting and enhancing the countryside as set out in Objective 11 of Table 14.1 of the Rural White Paper in relation to(a) biodiversity, (b) tranquillity, (c) heritage and (d) landscape character. [15911]
§ Alun MichaelThe Department is working with the Countryside Agency, English Nature, English Heritage and the Natural Environment Research Council's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology to develop proposals for an indicator of change in countryside quality. Further research to develop the indicator is currently being commissioned. The research will use existing national datasets about changing countryside character, including agriculture, forestry and land use change statistics and, from Countryside Survey 2000, information on landscape features and biodiversity. New data on traditional farm buildings are being collated by English Heritage and the Countryside Agency. The research will consider tranquillity as an aspect of countryside character. It is intended that the indicator will be available for publication in 2004.
In addition we have an extensive programme for monitoring the effects of our agri-environment schemes, on biodiversity in particular.