To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from county councils about the development of sand and gravel quarries in environmentally sensitive areas; and what has been his response to such representations.

No specific representations about this have been recently received from county councils. The Government policy and advice on mineral extraction in environmentally important areas is given in minerals planning guidance note 6 "Guidelines for Aggregates Provision in England and Wales."

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the current forecasts for sand and gravel production for each year to the end of the century; and what is the existing annual production.

My Department does not produce annual forecasts for the production of sand and gravel. A long term national forecast of the demand for aggregates (which includes sand and gravel) was published in March 1989 in minerals planning guidance note 6. It is our intention to publish a revised forecast shortly.Production of land-won sand and gravel in England and Wales in 1989 was 98·5 million tonnes.