The Crown Estate in Scotland was the subject of debate in the Scottish Parliament yesterday with Dave Thompson, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, arguing that local communities should reap the benefits of offshore energy developments (see speech below).
Scotland’s coastline is rich in renewable energy sources, but communities are not able to harness the potential and profit from developing it because the seabed is owned by the Crown Estate. In March, the Scottish Affairs Committee in Westminster published a report which recommended that responsibility for the administration and revenues of the ancient Crown property should be devolved first to Holyrood and then to local authorities. Last night in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Thompson welcomed the report saying that the report echoed what communities in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch have been saying for centuries.
Mr Thompson said, “As the wind turbines, wave machines and tidal generators go up along our coastline, so does the cost of living in rural coastal communities. We know how expensive it is to drive long distances to buy essentials and to heat a house in a cold climate.
“So, why can’t coastal communities take advantage of natural assets to offset the higher living costs? For centuries, development and investment along the coastline has not benefited local communities because revenues have gone straight into the pockets of the Crown Estate.
“With so much renewable energy potential, communities could be reaping the revenues and using it for regeneration and devolving responsibility for the Crown Estate to the Scottish Parliament, and then to local communities will enable that.
Dave Thompson’s speech
I am pleased to take part in the debate, which I congratulate Dave Stewart on securing. We in Scotland are on the cusp of harnessing great potential in renewable energy. The waves and the wind are powerful, particularly along our coastline. My constituency of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch also has huge potential for tidal energy. Nowhere is that more clear than at the proposed site for an 8MW, £40 million tidal power development in the Kyle Rhea narrows between Skye and the mainland, which could generate annual revenues of between £5.5 million and £135 million over its 25-year lifespan.
However, as the wind turbines, wave machines and tidal generators go up, so does the cost of living in rural coastal communities. One could be forgiven for presuming that coastal communities are well placed to reap the benefits of the natural resource as a little bit of compensation. That could be true, but before local communities or anyone else can harness the force of the sea and the resultant income, they need permission in the form of a lease from the Crown Estate, which pockets the money. As a constituent said to me, “We’ve had the clearances, the sheep, the forestry and the hydro, and the money that was promised to communities has gone absent without leave every time. Will it be the same with tidal projects?
The Scottish Affairs Committee answered the question, at least in part, in its report in March, in which it concluded that
“the responsibilities for the administration and revenues of the ancient Crown property
should no longer lie with the Crown Estate Commissioners but should be devolved, as David Stewart said. However, the committee also said that handing the responsibilities to Holyrood would not address the fundamental problems and instead recommended further decentralisation of the powers
“to local authority and local community levels”.
I whole-heartedly concur.
For the coastal communities in my constituency, the Scottish Affairs Committee report is therefore excellent news. It says what all rural communities said over the past few centuries when the heavy burden of tax fell on them but they got no benefit from revenues that were raised locally, and when investment and development in their areas did nothing to improve people’s standard of living.
In the current situation, in which the price of fuel and energy is high and jobs are scarce, it is crucial that fragile communities reap the benefits of their own natural resources. The question is, will London allow them to do so? That does not look likely, which is unfortunate. Independence is the only answer.
On a slightly different tack, the Glenelg and Arnisdale Development Trust’s plans will enable communities to take a stake in the £40 million tidal energy scheme that I mentioned. The plans have secured the First Minister’s approval and Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s assistance and have been welcomed by the developer, Marine Current Turbines. I look forward to progress on the project. After this debate, I will attend a meeting with HIE on renewables, just round the corner from the Parliament. I will press the agency on where it has got to with the project.
It is hoped that the Glenelg and Arnisdale project will be a pilot for a community ownership scheme, which can then be used by communities up and down the country. Glenelg and Arnisdale Development Trust envisages that revenues that are generated by its stakeholding will be ploughed back into a community renewable development fund, which will fund community investment in local green energy projects. It will also provide capital for other communities who want to develop renewable energy schemes. As surpluses build up, the cash will be used for regeneration projects. That is exactly the sort of approach that we must develop, so that local communities can benefit from marine development that affects them.
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