Council likely to support move to stop paying ‘access fees’ to Crown Estate
Martin Shipton
A Welsh council is expected to call on the Crown Estate to stop charging it more than £161,000 a year so the public can have access to beaches and other coastal areas.
On the afternoon of Thursday October 3, Plaid Cymru councillor Dewi Jones will propose a motion to Gwynedd council that asks the authority’s chief executive to open negotiations with the Crown Estate.
As Plaid has a clear majority on the council, it would be surprising if the motion doesn’t get passed.
Cllr Jones’ proposal represents a new phase in the campaign to get Crown Estate revenues devolved to Wales. They are already devolved to Scotland, and the argument is increasingly being made that the revenues should come directly to Wales.
Profits
The motion says: “Cyngor Gwynedd [Gwynedd council] states that we believe responsibility for the Crown Estate should be devolved to the Welsh Government. Any profits generated by the Crown Estate, here on Welsh lands and waters, should remain in Wales, for the benefit of our residents and communities. Responsibility for the Crown Estate is already devolved to the Scottish Government.
“This council also states our dissatisfaction that we are obliged to pay annual fees (in the form of leases) to ensure that Gwynedd residents and visitors have access to various sites, including our beaches and other facilities. In 2023, Cyngor Gwynedd paid a total of over £161,000 to the Crown Estate. Lease fees in 2023 ranged from £35 for ‘Bangor beachfront’, to £8,500 for ‘Dwyfor beach front’, to £144,000 for ‘Hafan Pwllheli’. In a period of severe financial hardship for public services, we believe that it is immoral that such fees go towards the maintenance of the British Monarchy and to the coffers of the Treasury in London. This money should remain in Gwynedd to support the people of Gwynedd.
“We call on the chief executive to make arrangements to open discussions with the Crown Estate regarding the fees paid by Cyngor Gwynedd. We will encourage the chief executive to endeavour to persuade the Crown Estate to delay further invoicing until such time as the council’s financial situation has improved. We note that the Crown Estate’s profits have more than doubled from £443m in 2022/23 to £1.1bn in 2023/24. During the same period Cyngor Gwynedd has seen its budget cut in real terms.”
Immoral
Councilor Jones, who represents the Peblig ward in Caernarfon, said: “Every year we give around £160,000 to the Crown Estate to be able to access our beaches, and other places around the county.
“For us, a county council that has seen our budget cut every year in real terms, I think that is quite immoral. Especially as we face further cuts to services as the profits of the Crown Estate more than doubled in the past year.
“I feel strongly that we should stop these payments for now and start a real conversation about the devolution of land management, and the profits that come from them to the Welsh Government.”
Across Wales,, the Crown Estate owns land estimated to be worth more than £603m. That includes 65% of the coast of Wales and 300,000 acres of land, as well as any gold and silver that is found on it,
Historian Dr Elin Jones told BBC Cymru: “The Crown Estate is the lands that belong to the Crown – not to any king or queen personally. The income that comes from that land in England and Wales goes towards supporting the Crown and the government of the UK – and a percentage of it goes to support the royal family directly.”
Not everyone agrees with Cllr Jones’ motion, however. Sam Kurtz, the Welsh Conservative MS for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, told BBC Cymru: “When I talk to companies that want to come into Wales, to invest in green industries, they don’t talk about the devolution of the Crown Estate. They are talking about planning and how we can bring in more people with additional skills that are needed in the new industries,”
Social value
Asked about Cllr Jones’ motion, a spokesperson for the Crown Estate said it was working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that it creates financial, environmental and social value, now and in the long term.
Journalist Richard Palmer, who has covered royal stories for more than 20 years, said: “Dr Elin Jones is wrong to say that a percentage of the Crown Estate income goes to support the Royal Family ‘directly’. None of the money goes to the monarchy.
“The profits are just used as a benchmark, an alternative to the inflation rate, to determine the amount of taxpayer support for the monarch in the Sovereign Grant.
“If the Crown Estate revenues were devolved to Wales, that would obviously affect the total profit figure for the remaining rump and thus the Sovereign Grant calculation. But Welsh taxpayers would continue to pay for their share of the costs of the monarchy through general taxation and any money from Westminster to Wales would be adjusted to reflect the loss of money to the Treasury from the Crown Estate.”
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The fact that ANY country is still forced to give money to the farce that is the Royal family is utterly disgusting.
The thought that any Welsh funds have gone to paying off Andrews victims is actually rather sick.
What would the Crown Estate do if the Council just stopped paying for these leases?
Perhaps Sam Kurtz, the Welsh Conservative MS for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire could enlighten us as to why those people with the ‘additional skills’ needed in new industries can’t be people trained in Wales instead of relying on skilled workers from elsewhere. Developing new industries in Cymru is vital, but alongside that investment in training the local workforce to work in those new industries. Mr Kurtz should also perhaps reflect that companies are only one small part of Cymru and that it is the people of Cymru who matter above all, and not some farcical creation of the ‘legal… Read more »
Unfortunately Padi businesses still form the beating core of economic growth. There was a time when businesses big and small took responsibility for training their workforces from an early age and endeavoured to retain those people as stability was seen as less expensive than continuous turnover of staff. Some hard times in the 70’s prompted companies/employers to look for grants and governments responded with modest support. However the crash of the 80’s and subsequent instability led to a far greater dependency on handouts, even well to do companies were quick to snatch money from governments. I have argued for a… Read more »
Da iawn Cyngor Gwynedd. Michael Davitt and the Land League would be proud of you!
Disgraceful that the crown estates even exist. How did the ‘crown’ claim to own this land in the first instance?This tax should be paid to the ‘Cymru’ government.
I take pride in Cymru surviving as a country despite being ‘the first and last colony’, however long it takes to rid ourselves of the vile traits of colonialism.
Not sure how we stand legally on not paying rent or taking ownership, but my option would be to let the chinless wonders in London know that the English Crown estate will soon be made to pay local taxes equal to 100% of whatever they make from this country.
They then have the opportunity to give it back for the same amount that they paid for it!
They do give it back – it goes to the Treasury which pays the Weslh grant.
I meant giving the property back, not any money to be made from it.
This would then avoid the contentious matter of any money made from our land becoming unemployment benefit paid to royals in another country.
Technically it’s not the Royal Family’s private property so the Crown estate would have had nothing to do with Prince Andew nor is the Family involved with how it is run. The revenues technically go directly to the Treasury.
So, if somebody stopped paying the leases then I would think it would be abvious to remove the amount of money from the Welsh grant from the Treasury.
A “tax on going to the beach” – you’d think the Tories would be all over this.
Quote: “they don’t talk about the devolution of the Crown Estate. They are talking about planning and how we can bring in more people with additional skills that are needed in the new industries,” You could have made the same argument about withdrawing from the EU a decade ago, but that didn’t stop the Tories with implementing a referendum on the matter. If the Crown Estate can be devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland, then why can it not be devolved to Wales. What country does not want full control over its own natural resources? Once again Wales is treated… Read more »
I wholeheartedly agree with Gwynedd council’s action. Do nothing nothing will be done. The Crown Estate “owns” the seabed off the North Wales coast because we were annexed by England therefore it has no bloody right to make money off our backs when the property is stolen. The UK Government under the Scotland Act 2016 devolved to the Scottish parliament its Crown Estate in 2017 meaning billions going into its treasury where Wales who is deliberately singled out for special treatment is constantly denied similar. Enough is enough! We have Welsh Labour in Cardiff , a lame duck in my… Read more »
Every local authority across Cymru needs to follow this lead and just say No. The Brit Establishment would soon be adopting a different attitude. We need to stop being poodles and start being dragons.
Cymru should get all the revenues from the Crown Estate and the Senedd can then decide what percentage of it we hand over to the monarch.
25% as now, or anything between zero and 100%.
England can make a similar decision.
This is scandalous! I don’t know how many years local authorities in Cymru have been paying the Crown Estates for access to beaches etc, but why has it taken so long for local authorities to question such payments. I can’t see the UK loving, cap doffing Labour party questioning payments to the Crown Estate.