Crown Estate shake-up empowers local communities
LOCAL communities will have more say in how the seabed and coastline is managed as changes to the Scottish Crown Estate come into force.
Crown Estate Scotland launched the Local Pilots Management Scheme in 2018 to create opportunities for organisations to get more involved in managing Crown assets.
Four communities – Orkney Islands Council, Shetland Islands Council, the Western Isles and the Forth Salmon Fishery District – will now take responsibility for more decisions relating to seabed, coastline and other land.
The Crown Estate leases virtually all seabed out to 12 nautical how the devolution of decision making will affect the salmon farming industry.
In the Western Isles, a joint proposal between the local authority and a leading landowner (the Galson Estate Trust) aims to ‘empower island communities’. This will involve determining leases for renewable energy developments and for all other developments in the Hebrides marine region.
A Community Impact Assessment will ‘allow affected communities to make their views on a proposed development known to decision makers and to highlight negative and positive impacts’, according to a summary of the proposal submitted to Crown Estate Scotland.
The Orkney Islands Council pilot scheme, meanwhile, ‘proposes an innovative approach to deliver enhanced local decision making on seabed leasing through an Orkney Islands Marine Planning Partnership’.
It is proposed that a locally accountable process will be established whereby Orkney Islands Council would consider an application and establish a position on whether to grant a new lease option and any special conditions that should be attached to the grant of a lease.
Crown Estate Scotland would then be decision made.
Orkney Islands Council added:‘The local community to maximise the value from seabed assets and deliver sustainable economic growth.’
The Shetland proposal relates to the SullomVoe Harbour Area, a major oil and gas production zone. Changes in this sector mean there is scope to look at the potential for other future developments within the area, said Shetland Council.
‘To ensure that any potential development is sustainable and meets with community aspirations, a masterplan is being developed for the area.’
Crown Estate Scotland chief executive Simon Hodge said:‘The applications we received contained an array of ideas and proposals, which is yet further evidence of the wide range of local expertise and vision.