THE Scottish Greens have called on the Scottish Government to “dismantle” the archaic Crown Estates and seize control of key assets for the Scottish people.
Writing exclusively in The National today, the Greens’ land reform spokesman Andy Wightman says the Scottish Parliament has the power to take over Crown land and buildings and transfer them into the hands of public bodies.
The Crown Estate owns property such as offices, farms and retail premises as well as land including the foreshore and seabeds around Scotland’s coast.
Management of Crown land in Scotland was devolved following recommendations by the Smith commission and a bill that the Scottish Government says would allow local authorities and communities the opportunity to manage Scottish Crown Estate assets was introduced at Holyrood in January.
READ: Dismantle Scotland's Crown Estates and give them to the people
However, Wightman says the “complex arrangements” contained in the legislation are unnecessary because of a separate power the Scottish Parliament has had since 1999.
He writes: “Far from seeking to preserve the Crown Estate as some inalienable entity, we should be seeking to dismantle it, transfer the rights to more appropriate owners, wind up the body (Crown Estate Scotland) being established to manage it, and democratise a significant range of land and property that is of vital importance to communities across Scotland.”
A spokesman for Crown Estate Scotland said: “Since established in April 2017, Crown Estate Scotland has introduced new ways of working to ensure that more people have more say in how the land and property is managed, including a new scheme to enable local organisations to directly manage assets.
“We’ve also started a multi-million pound rural estates investment programme and passed millions of pounds in revenue profit to Scottish Government to contribute to public spending.”
READ: Dismantle Scotland's Crown Estates and give them to the people
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