Tenants raise fears over transfer of crown estate

The transfer of the Crown Estate land to the Scottish Government at the weekend has brought a wave of concern over its future management among the 117 farmers with tenanted farms belonging to the Estate.

The long planned transfer which took place on the first day of April sees Scottish Ministers with control over thousands of hectares of rural land, approximately half Scotland’s foreshore and leasing the seabed for rights to renewable energy. A new body, Crown Estate Scotland (Interim Management) will ensure continuity, while Ministers finalise a long term strategy that will include opportunities to place local communities at the heart of the new arrangements for managing the assets.

These were worth £271.8 million in 2015/16 and generated a gross annual revenue of £14 million.

However, NFU Scotland’s Crown Estate Tenants Working Group has voiced its concerns that the Crown Estate should be retained as one entity as part of the devolution process and not be split up and come under the control of a number of smaller community groups.

The Union group represents

0 Andrew Mccornick: Tenants are happy at the moment the 117 tenant farmers on the four Crown Estates at Glenlivet, Fochabers, Applegirth, and Whitehills. All the tenants are on secure 1991 Act tenancies which allow for the tenancies to be passed on to the next generation.

In response to the Crown Estate consultation, the tenants agreed that they did not want to see parts of the estate sold off under any proposed ‘rebalancing’ of the asset.

Instead, the tenants wanted to see “a centrally managed main board” which would have advisory sub groups, including an agricultural one where the tenants would be involved in management discussions and decisions.

Commenting on this proposal, NFU Scotland president, Andrew Mccornick said, “Our tenants have told us they are happy with how things are at the moment, and do not have an appetite for substantial change.

“They feel strongly that the estate functions well due to the size and complexity of the assets contained within the portfolio, and see this as a real opportunity to make the Crown Estate a showcase for rural Scotland.

“The tenanted farms, which have a value of £98 million, comprise the largest portion of the total estate asset. These farms play a vital role in underpinning the rest of the portfolio.”