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Esas

Volume 203: debated on Tuesday 4 February 1992

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To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will give estimates of the numbers of farmers eligible for the environmentally sensitive area scheme in the Pennine dales, including those announced in his 15 January statement, giving the numbers for each of the 18 eligible dales;(2) if he will give estimates of the numbers of farmers eligible to benefit from the environmentally sensitive areas schemes already in existence as well as those eligible in his recent announcements, giving the numbers in each individual area.

It is not possible to determine accurately the numbers of farmers eligible to enter the ESA schemes because the boundaries of the schemes do not coincide with parish boundaries in respect of which such data might be obtained from the agricultural census. There are currently 3,105 agreements in the 10 English ESAs, of which 303 are in the Pennine dales ESA. With the enlargement of some of the existing ESAs and the designation of 12 new ones, the number of agreements is expected to increase considerably but it is not possible to make an overall estimate until completion of the review of those environmentally sensitive areas designated in 1988 and determination of the boundaries for the 12 new areas to be introduced this year and in 1993.