DEVOLVING the Crown Estate to Scotland was “a mistake”, according to a former permanent secretary to the Treasury.
Lord Nick Macpherson of Earl’s Court told the House of Lords that this is because issues such as offshore wind are better looked at on a UK-wide basis.
His comments came amid calls for the management of Crown Estate assets in Wales to be devolved to the Welsh Government, and for the profits from these sites to stay in Wales also.
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The Crown Estate is a huge collection of assets owned by the British monarchy, which includes vast swathes of urban, coastal and maritime land across the UK.
It is run as a business, independent of government, but its profits are delivered to the Treasury each year, after which an annual payment is made to the monarch in the form of the Sovereign Grant.
Several peers argued that it is only fair to devolve the Crown Estate in Wales to the Welsh Government, given Scottish assets were devolved to Scotland in 2016.
However, independent crossbench peer Macpherson (below) urged the Government to exercise “a degree of caution” in this regard, given how he sees that 2016 decision in hindsight.
He said: “I speak as having been in the Treasury when the Crown Estate in Scotland was devolved there.
“I think, with hindsight, that was a mistake, particularly because in terms of offshore wind there is considerable benefit in looking at policy at a UK level.”
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He said the Government “missed a trick” and should have “hived off offshore wind from the Crown Estate”, as sea oil exploration was decades ago.
Peers in Westminster were debating the costs and benefits of devolving Crown Estate assets during their detailed line-by-line scrutiny of the Crown Estate Bill.
The Bill aims to allow the Crown Estate to invest more in green energy by removing investment restrictions and allowing it to borrow from the Government, with Treasury consent, to invest in more expensive projects.
Plaid Cymru peers Lord Wigley and Baroness Smith of Llanfaes, as well as Labour peer Lord Hain and independent crossbench peer Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd called on the Government to add measures to the Bill to alleviate Welsh grievances on a lack of devolution.
Wigley, who has also put forward a private member’s bill on Crown Estate devolution to Wales, said: “It is widely seen that the Crown Estate, as currently administered, does not address Welsh needs or concerns and indeed sucks valuable resources out of Wales.
“The Crown is allowed to tell us that we have to pay for use of our own land and our own sea coast in our own country and can charge for the use of that privilege and can do so with impunity.”
The SNP have been contacted for comment.
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