News / Devo committee backs isles control of seabed
A SCOTTISH government committee has backed calls for control of the seabed around Shetland to be passed to the local council, with Lerwick harbour going to the town’s port authority.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott, who sits on Holyrood’s Devolution (Further Powers) Committee, has welcomed the recommendations to fully devolve the Crown Estate’s marine assets, which he personally fought hard for.
The committee has so far met 20 times and visited Lerwick in March as part of its response to the UK government’s draft Scotland bill, which will be presented later this month in the Queen’s Speech at Westminster.
The draft bill is the government’s response to the recommendations of the Smith Commission on devolution that was set up after Scotland voted No in September’s independence referendum.
On Thursday the Holyrood committee said the draft bill fell short of many of the Smith Commission’s proposals.
Its chairman, SNP MSP Bruce Crawford, said the draft bill did not “meet the spirit or substance of the Smith Commission’s recommendations”, particularly on welfare and benefits, and required “extensive redrafting”.
One concern involved a lack of clarity about the devolution of control of the seabed from the Crown Estate.
The committee was concerned that the proposed legislation could lead to “two Crown Estates” operating in Scotland, with an English Crown Estate owning commercial assets in Scotland, such as its Fort Kinnaird shopping centre outside Edinburgh.
However Shetland’s MSP welcomed the committee’s unanimous backing for control of the seabed around the Scottish coast to be devolved “as a matter of urgency” to local authorities and beyond, handing the seabed in Lerwick harbour to the local port authority.
He also welcomed its support for Scottish ministers taking the lead in fisheries negotiations in Brussels.
Commenting after the committee’s interim report was published, Scott added that while he was sure the UK government would follow through on the transfer of Crown Estate assets to Scotland, he was less confident that Holyrood would further devolve powers to local authorities.
“I have long argued that the dead hand of the Crown Estate should be lifted from Shetland, but I do not want it replaced by the dead hand of Edinburgh,” he said.
“That is why I pushed for the Smith Commission to recommend further devolution of the seabed assets to Shetland and other island areas and why I continued to push for this in the Holyrood committee.”
There also remain arguments about whether local authorities should be handed full ownership of the seabed.
Scott said: “I am not so hung about ownership as I am about gaining the revenue streams and the management responsibilities.”
The committee will continue taking evidence from midsummer until early 2016, and hopes to publish its final report before next year’s Scottish election in May.
The Devolution (Further Powers) Committee’s interim report can be read in full here.
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