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.

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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.”

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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."