Council backs calls for Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

A majority of councillors in Caerphilly have backed calls to devolve the Crown Estate – the land and holdings belonging to the monarch.

Supporters claim Wales will benefit directly from profits generated by harnessing the Estate’s natural resources, making a significant contribution to funding for public services.

Cllr Colin Mann told colleagues the Estate owns an estimated 65% of the nation’s foreshore and riverbeds, and more than 50,000 acres of land, in holdings valued at more than £853m.

‘Fairness’

He called on councillors to support the campaign urging Westminster to transfer the Crown Estate to Wales, adding it had been devolved successfully to Scotland in 2016.

“This is about fairness for Wales,” Cllr Mann, of Plaid Cymru, said at a Caerphilly County Borough Council meeting on Tuesday January 14. “The country is missing out on huge sums of money.”

Projects on Estate land in Scotland had created £103 million last year, he added.

His motion, calling on Caerphilly to become the latest council to support the campaign, was signed by Plaid colleagues and Labour councillors, including several cabinet members.

Cllr Jamie Pritchard, the council’s deputy leader, said he was opposed in principle to an “unelected” monarch holding “private property” in Wales.

Cllr Teresa Parry, who seconded the motion in the council chamber, told those present the “interest of the Welsh people is at heart”, and asked them to “imagine what we could achieve” with the money a devolved Estate could generate.

Sceptical

Others in the chamber were more sceptical of the proposals for devolution, with Labour councillor Carl Cuss telling colleagues he believed Wales was already in line to benefit from UK plans for the Estate.

He said the current UK Government, through its GB Energy initiative, was already working on policies to develop the Estate’s natural resources in a way that would be fair to Wales.

Throwing devolution into the equation may “risk investor confidence” in those UK plans, and “we should not stand in the way of jobs and investment this could bring to Wales”, he warned.

Cllrs Elizabeth Davies and Roy Saralis also expressed doubts about the campaign at the current time, although the latter said he was not against the move to devolution “in principle”.

Cllr Davies said it could “take some time” for the Welsh Government to come up with its own energy proposals.

But the Plaid group leader, Cllr Lindsay Whittle, claimed such arguments were a “red herring”, adding he hadn’t “seen energy bills come down” under current policies.

Devolving the Estate “hasn’t done Scotland any harm”, added Cllr Greg Ead, describing support for the campaign in Wales as a “bit of a no-brainer”.

Councillors voted 27-21 in favour of supporting the motion, with four abstaining.

The vote means Caerphilly is the ninth local authority in Wales to join the campaign for devolving the Crown Estate.