Councillors have pledged to make the campaign Scotland-wide similar to the land reform campaign led by the Council in the 1990s, because they claim the issues affect all coastal communities in Scotland.

Highland Council, along with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the other five Highlands and Islands local authorities, commissioned a report, “The Crown Estate in Scotland – New Opportunities for Public Benefits” produced by Robin Callander. The report calls for a review “to ensure that the property, rights and interests which make up the Crown Estate in Scotland contribute more fully to the delivery of Scottish Executive policies and the wellbeing of the people of Scotland”.

The Council’s cross-party group is optimistic the Scottish Government will press for a review and that was boosted following consideration of the report by the Scottish Parliament’s rural affairs and environment committee. The committee also intends to further scrutinise and monitor the work and development carried out by the Crown Estate Commission. The property rights, which make up the Crown Estate in Scotland, are managed by the Crown Estate Commission (CEC) as part of the UK-wide Crown Estate, but are a distinct component of it because they are owned by the Crown in Scotland under Scots law.

Councillor Drew Hendry (SNP), chair of planning, environment and development, said: “We are calling for this change to help return vital benefits to rural folk and to make development of offshore renewable energy more practical and successful. This approach has been endorsed by all parties in our Council and we are all working together to achieve change on this.”

Councillor Michael Foxley (Lib-Dem), who has pursued the CEC issue for the past 15 years, said: “We have to work on this across all the parties and with communities in the Highlands and Islands. We also have to get cross-party support within the Parliament. This is not about another attack on Westminster. This is about a long campaign to ensure local accountability and control of a hugely valuable asset.

"When fish farming first started entire sea lochs were handed over to multinational companies for 100 years for a rent of £75 with no local consultation. The next big development is offshore renewables and we want these sited where the community wants them and to ensure that either local communities own the resource or else get substantial community benefit from them. It is critical that we build a campaign momentum as we did for land reform so that it becomes a Highlands and Islands issue, and then gets taken up by the rest of Scotland.”

A spokesperson for the Crown Estate said: “We are disappointed at this move as things have moved on significantly since the publication of the of the Crown Estate Review Working Group report produced by Highland Council back in January 2007.

"We have since appeared before the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Environment Committee and have listened carefully to their views about how we work in Scotland. We proposed a number of measures, which the Committee agreed, including setting up The Crown Estate Scottish Liaison Group which is due to meet for the first time next month and includes local authority representatives. We are looking forward to reporting to the Committee on our work this Autumn.

"We are also working closely with Highland Council on proposals for improvements to ports and waterfronts in the area and are committed to continue these activities in the future."

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