Renewable Energy

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 10 November 2021.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:08, 10 November 2021

I do absolutely agree that we need to manage our relationship with the Crown Estate, which is a very good one, in order to make sure that we do unlock the potential for renewables, as I've just said. However, the UK Government did devolve the Crown Estate to Scotland back in 2016, they have control of the Crown Estate in Scotland and, as a result, are able to do a number of things, including bidding rounds for renewables under their own control, that we are not able to do, and that is, necessarily, a disadvantage.

There's also an issue around the funding, so I'm not disagreeing with Sam Rowlands that we need to get on with the Crown Estate well and we need to make sure that we work happily with them, given the current state of play, but the Crown Estate are tasked specifically with generating a profit for the UK Treasury in England and Wales at the moment. That profit has totalled £3 billion over the last 10 years, and total net profits were £269.3 million in 2020-21, so I cannot pretend that I wouldn't much prefer to have a proportion of that coming direct to the Welsh Treasury instead of via the UK Government, who have been singularly unhelpful in making sure that we get a proper Barnettised formula. So, whilst I agree with the general thrust of his argument, there is undoubtedly a financial benefit, as is very obvious in Scotland, of having the Crown Estate devolved.