A new poll has suggested that an overwhelming majority of people in Wales want the Crown Estate to be devolved to Cymru.
A YesCymru poll carried out by YouGov found that 58% of people supported devolving the Crown Estate to Wales, compared to 19% who opposed it (23% said they didn't know). The Crown Estate is a collection of marine and land assets and holdings belonging to the reigning monarch.
It includes the seabed out to 12 nautical miles, around 65% of the Welsh foreshore and riverbed, and a number of ports and marinas. However, it’s not the private property of the monarch. It cannot be sold by the monarch, nor do revenues from it belong to the sovereign. You can get more Welsh news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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The term Crown Estate is also used for the body that administers the estate, established by the Crown Estate Act 1961 and headed by a board - the Crown Estate Commissioners. It’s independent of government and the monarch with a public function to:
- invest in and manage certain property assets belonging to the Monarch
- remit its revenue surplus each year to the UK consolidated fund.
The poll showed strong support for the devolution of the Crown Estate to Wales with the Welsh Government able to use the funds. When broken down by party, both Labour ( 73%) and Plaid (78%) voters in 2019 supported the idea, compared to 6% and 10% respectively who opposed it. Though support among Tory voters was far lower (44%) it still exceeded the number who opposed (41%).
Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has repeatedly said that the people of Wales don't want any more "constitutional tinkering" but this poll suggests there is an appetite from a majority in Wales to at least bring these powers to the Senedd.
The valuation of the Crown Estate’s marine portfolio in Wales has increased significantly from £49.2 million in 2020 to £549.1 million in 2021. Wales’s total portfolio of assets is currently valued at £603 million.
YesCymru CEO Gwern Gwynfil told WalesOnline that while they welcomed the findings and felt that the eventual devolution of the Crown Estate was "inevitable", he added: "If Wales were an independent country there would be no debate about this, we would already have control over our natural resources. Our concern is that by the time Wales does have control over the Crown Estate much of the wealth will already have been extracted.
"What this poll does also show is that there is a clear appetite for Wales to have control over its own resources and future."
The situation in Scotland
Crown Estate Scotland was established in 2017 as a public corporation to oversee the management of the Scottish Crown Estate assets. The Scottish Government states that Marine Scotland has a key role in reforming the Scottish Crown Estate, and in leading its strategic management plan.
in 2021 Crown Estate Scotland returned £12 million revenue to the Scottish Government for public spending, and built up a £38.6 million fund for investment in the blue (use of ocean resources) economy.
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