Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 7 May 2009.
According to the secretary of the Church Commissioners, the primary objective is to make money. To that end, to the shock and horror of the people of Bognor Regis, the commissioners intend to concrete over 300 acres of beautiful and highly productive agricultural land to the west of Pagham and Bersted in my constituency. The commissioners have also attempted to triple the rents of tenant farmers in the area. Given that the Church Commissioners own the third largest holding of agricultural land in the country, is it not time that this land was put in the hands of a body that has the objective of looking after the countryside and encouraging the production of home-grown food rather than leaving the land at the mercy of an organisation that—