| Synopsis: |
The Crown Estate manages most of Scotland's foreshore and seabed and runs it for the benefit of the UK Treasury. Two years ago, the Committee recommended that these Crown property rights and interests, which are not the personal property of the Monarch but are held in trust for the nation, should be decentralised as far as possible. The Government rejected the Committee's main proposals, but agreed to a little tinkering and set up a fund to help coastal communities. The Committee has now revisited their previous report (HCP 1117, session 2010/12, ISBN 9780215042989), and taken new evidence. The Committee states that they are even more convinced that decentralisation is essential if local communities are to benefit from the development of these assets. The Committee remains convinced that the transfer of these assets from an over-centralised London to an over-centralising Edinburgh would not be sufficient, and that local people and local authorities should be given primacy in determining how these assets should be developed and how financial benefits should be distributed. |