Council urged to join push for Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales

Plaid Cymru councillors in Caerphilly are urging the local authority to join an increasing band of councils calling for the Crown Estate assets to be devolved to Wales.

On Thursday (9 January) councillors in Neath Port Talbot became the latest to support the move, voting unanimously to urge the Welsh Government to call for Crown Estate assets in Wales to be devolved, as they have been in Scotland.

Siphons profits

Two days earlier, Plaid Cymru’s Energy spokesperson, Llinos Medi MP, called for an end to the system that she said siphons profits from Wales’s natural resources into the UK Treasury during a debate in the House of Commons.

In 2007, the asset of the Crown Estate in Wales were worth £21.1 million. By 2023, this figure had jumped to £853 million, largely driven by the rising demand for renewable energy projects.

Correspondingly, net revenue profit across the Crown Estate rose from £345 million in 2020 to £1.1 billion in 2024.

Those profits generated from Wales’s natural resources are not retained in the Welsh public purse. Instead, they are sent to the Treasury and the Sovereign Grant

The notice of motion, which goes before the full council on Tuesday (January 14th), is being supported by Plaid Cymru, Labour and Independent councillors in Caerphilly.

More than one-third of councils – including those controlled by Plaid Cymru, Labour, Green and Independents – have already backed the call.

Growing support

Councillor Colin Mann, Plaid Cymru member for Llanbradach, said that there was growing support for the demand that profits made from natural resources in Wales each year should be kept in Wales, as happens in Scotland, rather than going straight to the UK Treasury.

Councillor Mann said:  “Investing the profits from our natural resources into a Sovereign Wealth Fund for public benefit would be an important step towards addressing the needs of the people of Wales.

“This is about fairness and Wales receiving the same treatment as Scotland. Wales should be benefitting from the Crown Estate to help address poverty in Wales.

“Caerphilly Council is under huge financial pressure and historically underfunded and placing the Crown Estate in Welsh hands would be a  significant move in addressing the decades of unfairness and lack of investment in Welsh communities. I hope all members will support this motion.”

The motion calls for the council leader Sean Morgan to write to both the Welsh Government and UK Government and make a public statement calling for the devolution of the Crown Estates.

In recent weeks seven Welsh council’s, Ceredigion, Powys, Carmarthenshire, Gwynedd, Monmouthshire, Denbighshire and Swansea, have supported similar motions calling for the Crown Estate to be managed by the Welsh Government.