Politicians call for SIC to take control of Crown Estate assets and deliver funds locally
SHETLAND’S MSP has called for assets managed by Crown Estate Scotland to be devolved to Shetland Islands Council to allow them to invest funds into local services.
Crown Estate Scotland looks after the land and sea surrounding Shetland, managing these and Scotland’s urban, rural and marine assets to raise money to be re-invested in the country.
Revenue profit is paid to the Scottish Parliament and then redistributed for public spending.
Beatrice Wishart has now called for Shetland Islands Council to take control of the assets Crown Estate Scotland manages locally, saying it would help the council raise much-needed funds.
“This is a practical move that the Scottish Government has competency over and could enact in the short term,” she said. “Shetland councillors would then have the say over how the money might be spent.
“The sense of feeling locally is that infrastructure projects are ever increasing to the point of saturation with no benefit to the community.”
She was backed by fellow Liberal Democrat politician Alistair Carmichael, Shetland and Orkney’s MP, who said power and revenue needed to be delivered to local communities.
“Just months ago it emerged during the isles resilience summit that a major block to further cable resilience is the fact that the Crown Estate Scotland charges significant fees to lay cables, whereas this is free in other neighbouring countries,” Carmichael said.
“That puts our islands at a competitive disadvantage and makes the practical case for more local control of these decisions.
“We know that the SNP like to talk about local control but their record tells the opposite story.
“The only way we will get the change we need from the Scottish Government is by standing up to them – including over the Crown Estate.”
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