‘Need for significant investment’ behind sale of Crown Estates unit

A requirement for “significant investment” which would direct funds away from other projects likely to benefit tenants on the Crown Estates has been given as the reason for the sale of one of their units, following calls for the sale to be shelved.

Andy Wells, head of property with Crown Estates Scotland, said that to provide and maintain buildings and other infrastructure across the group’s 200 farm tenancies, it was sometimes necessary to sell a farm when a tenancy ended.

“We only sell when there are no other reasonable alternatives,” he added.

But he highlighted that the requirement for £6.9 million worth of investment in buildings and other infrastructure elements on tenanted farms between 2017 and 2019 – along with payments to tenants who wished to retire – made the choice unavoidable.

However, the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association said it had written to Scottish ministers, asking them to have the decision to sell reversed.

Director Angus Mccall stated that the sale was contrary to the moves being taken by other public bodies to make more land available, especially for new entrants.

“We appreciate the financial challenges CES faces in meeting its commitments to maintaining capital investment in its rural properties to ensure farming units are fit-forpurpose to meet tenants’ needs, but we believe a policy of selling tenanted farms to meet investment targets is a shortterm fix and a retrograde step, ” adding that it would reduce opportunities for new entrants.

But Wells argued that Crown Estates Scotland fully supported new entrants and that it also helped those wishing to expand their businesses.