Keep Scotland’s Crown Estate whole, say tenants

Crown Estate tenants in Scotland are calling for the estate to be kept as one following transfer of the revenue and management of its Scottish assets to the Scottish government on 1 April.

The Scottish estate includes about 200 farming and grazing leases or tenancies on an estimated 28,300ha.‎

NFU Scotland has formed a Crown Estate tenants’ group made up of two tenants from each of the four rural estates – Glenlivet, Fochabers, Applegirth, and Whitehills.

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The 117 secure 1991 Act tenancies on the Crown Estate Scotland make up a significant portion of the country’s secure tenanted sector.

The tenants do not want to see parts of the estate sold off under proposed “rebalancing” of the asset, said the union.

They also want a centrally managed main board, underpinned by advisory sub-groups, and would like an agricultural sub-group to allow the tenants to be involved in management discussions and decisions.

‘No appetite for substantial change’

“Our tenants have told us they are happy with how things are at the moment and do not have an appetite for substantial change,” said NFUS president, Andrew McCornick.

“The tenanted farms, which have a value of £98m, comprise the largest portion of the total estate asset.

“These farms play a vital role in underpinning the rest of the portfolio and provide much wider socioeconomic benefits to many rural communities, and many of the farming families that live on these estates have done so for generations.

“NFU Scotland is very conscious of the recent figures which have shown a dramatic decrease in let land since the passing of the Land Reform Act in 2016.

“Crown Estate has an important role to play in this going forward. As it is unable to trade it cannot farm in hand, which means that letting is its best option for land it owns.”

The estate transfer means Scottish ministers now have control over the estate’s Scottish rural land, about half Scotland’s foreshore and the ability to lease the seabed for rights to renewable energy.

New body

A new body, Crown Estate Scotland (Interim Management), will ensure continuity for tenants, said the Scottish government.

Ministers are to finalise a long-term strategy to manage assets worth £271.8m in 2015-16 and which generated a gross annual revenue of £14m.

“The management and resources of the Crown Estate now rest with the people of Scotland and we have a genuine, once in a lifetime opportunity to use them to change the fabric of Scottish society, placing the needs of local and coastal communities at the centre of our long-term planning for these considerable assets,” said land reform secretary Roseanna Cunningham.

“From today, decisions about both the day-to-day management and the future of the estate will be taken in Scotland.

“This will have positive implications, not only for the many people who live, work or have some other direct connection with the Crown Estate but for many communities across Scotland.”