488 



DISCUSSION 



towards economic self-sufficiency ; but economic factors can only operate 

 within certain limits allowed by natural factors. The accompanying table 

 indicates the present use of the land. In Britain one-third, and in Scotland 

 over two-thirds of the surface fall within the category of rough grazing, 

 heathland, and moorland. These lands may be regarded as the problem 

 lands of the future. Woodland covers only 5 per cent, of the whole surface 

 of the country ; Britain produces a minute proportion of its own timber 

 requirements : yet Britain has a forest climate. Orchards represent 

 0-5 per cent. ; that figure should be considered against the value of fresh 

 fruit to the nation. Of essential food requirements the country produces 

 some 35 to 40 per cent., of wheat less than 15 per cent., of meat 44 per cent. 

 The table indicates what might be done, not by any radical changes in the 

 use of the land, but by reconditioning each type of land so as to improve 

 its quality and utilisation. Of the rough grazing, heath, and moor, some- 

 thing like a third could be converted into grazing, a third could be forested, 

 and a third would be left for recreation, sport, and national parks. 



Dr. Stamp believed the process of reconditioning to be both essentially 

 desirable and economically possible. He referred to the chairman's point 

 that in the event of national emergency the processes of nature are such 

 that changes cannot be made suddenly. National emergency does not 

 necessarily connote war : the changing character of world trade and the 

 possible diminution of overseas markets for British-manufactured goods 

 may throw us back upon the resources of our own land. Furthermore, a 

 new standard of values — nutritional values — is beginning to be appreciated. 

 Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and milk, imply home production. Again, 

 increasing leisure and a rising standard of living make new demands on the 

 land : good land for gardens and allotments ; the preservation of accessible 

 tracts which are agriculturally submarginal, and the protection of the finest 

 scenic areas as national parks — for example, the Lake District, the Peak 

 District, Snowdonia, the Cornish coasts. Much might be done for the 

 beautification of Britain — the abolition of ribbon development and the 

 substitution of a ' parkway ' treatment of arterial roads ; the plantation of 

 woodland on more natural lines than those of regimented conifers ; the 

 obliteration by the planting of trees and shrubs of such scars as the worn-out 

 parts of the Black Country or the deserted Shropshire coalfield. Such 

 changes could be made at relatively small cost, if carried out with accurate 

 knowledge. 



Present Use. 



Arable (intensive) 



,, (farm crops) 

 Permanent grassland (good) 

 (other) 

 Rough grazing in enclosed 



fields .... 

 Heathland, moorland and 



other rough grazing 

 Forest and woodland : 



For timber 



Other economic 



Scrub land, etc. 

 Orchards .... 

 Residual (housing, industrial, 



etc.) .... 



