THE finances of the Scottish Government are £9 million better off thanks to first year of operations of the Crown Estate Scotland.
In the first full year of the management of the Crown Estate being devolved, income from seabed, rural estates, coastline and other land and property throughout Scotland that belongs to the Crown was £16.4m.
Total assets have now increased in value to £324.6m.
The National reported in June that the Crown Estate’s share in the Fort Kinnaird retail centre in Edinburgh had been sold for £167m – more than half the value of the Crown Estate Scotland’s asset.
Yet the highly successful Fort Kinnaird, which was built by Sir John Hall and the late Jim Glass, was not devolved to Crown Estate Scotland. The buyer was M&G Estates, a London-based fund which has already started moving some operations to Luxembourg because of Brexit SNP MSP and now government minister Richard Lochhead, pictured below, said at the time: “The UK Government no doubt wants this shady cash grab kept below the radar – but Scotland is simply being conned.
“Just two years ago UK ministers refused Scottish Government requests to devolve this site to the new Crown Estate Scotland, and it’s now clear that there are 167 million reasons why.
“The funds from Fort Kinnaird would have been a significant amount of money for Crown Estate Scotland.”
The organisation’s annual report confirms that Fort Kinnaird was never listed as one of its assets.
Financial highlights from the report show that net revenue of £9m – against target of £5.9m – was paid to the Scottish Government.
The report said: “Key factors include higher than anticipated production-based rental income from salmon farming tenants and careful management of costs.”
The accounts showed £10.1m raised in capital receipts – the target was £10m – for re-investment in the Scottish Crown Estate and the sum of £2.2m was invested in rural estates and assets. A further £1m was invested in wider activity to secure revenue and capital growth.
Crown Estate Scotland said: “The self-funding public corporation started operation in April 2017 and was required to immediately generate income.
“Over the year the team generated over £10m in capital to fund investments in rural estates and offshore renewables and other parts of the Estate, and increased the property value of the Scottish Crown Estate by £48.9m to £324.6m.”
The report added that in this financial year, since April 1, Crown Estate Scotland has received £25m capital receipts from offshore wind and added that “the strong performance of the first year has paved the way for long-term success”.
Amanda Bryan, chair of Crown Estate Scotland, said: “The team are incredibly proud to have been able to pay £9m to Scottish Government, as well as delivering on a range of projects to ensure the land and property we manage benefits businesses, communities and families across Scotland.”
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