Working with us

Overview

Overview

We continue to work with and promote the aquaculture industry, which in Scotland alone supports more than 6,000 jobs.

Aquaculture is worth more than £430 million to the Scottish economy, and we are committed to working in partnership with our tenants to make sure that aquaculture retains this position.

Last year we invested over £100,000 in research and development including the investigation of cultivation protocols for wrasse and remote detection of jellyfish blooms.

The Crown Estate also continued to work with government to create a detailed and up-to-date web-based overview of the Scottish industry for the general public and stakeholders. Our comprehensive records of both current and historical aquaculture seabed interests are used to assist existing and prospective producers in exploring opportunities for development, and our aquaculture team are in frequent communication with tenants enquiring about such opportunities.

Aquaculture leases

Aquaculture leases

As managers of virtually all the seabed around the UK out to the 12nm limit, our permission is required by those wishing to carry out fish farming operations which take place on Crown land.

Seabed lease and rental

We have a statutory duty to obtain a return for the use of land within our ownership and so rental is due for areas of seabed used for commercial purposes, including aquaculture. For salmon farming the rental is based on a production-related tariff.

The rent, which is subject to review every five years, has reduced over time in actual and real terms reflecting the decreasing market value of the final product and represents approximately just one per cent of a farm's gross turnover. Outer Isles farms (Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland) receive a reduction to reflect the higher operation costs arising from their location.

Seabed rentals for shellfish are linked to the amount of equipment on site and specified in the lease. The majority of farms pay a relatively small amount which reflects the nature of the industry, being largely comprised of small scale farms.

Aquaculture leases in Scotland

Since 1 April 2007 all marine fish farms require planning permission. Application for planning permission is made to the relevant local authority under planning legislation. An important point about the new scheme is that the planning permission will be attached to the area of foreshore / seabed in question and will not be company specific. Where the foreshore / seabed is Crown owned then the right to occupy the site will be by means of a lease from us as landowner.

An application for a fish farming lease can be made at any time, without a valid planning consent required as a prerequisite. If planning permission has not been obtained, then rather than a full lease a lease-option will be offered (a lease-option will be important where an applicant does not want to commit to the expenditure of pursuing a planning application without some assurance that a lease will be granted if planning permission is obtained). A lease-option agreement would remain in place for those periods specified in the agreement for planning applications to be submitted and consent to be approved. If these milestones are not met, the lease option agreement will lapse.

In addition to a lease, and planning consent from the relevant local authority, all fish farming operations in marine waters around Scotland may also require a marine licence from Marine Scotland, and where applicable, authorization under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.

Aquaculture leases in England and Wales

Aquaculture regulation in England and Wales falls under the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act. In addition to a lease all fish farming activities in marine waters around England and Wales may also require a marine licence from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in England and Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) in Wales, to whom enquiries should be directed.

An application for a fish farming lease can be made at any time, without statutory consent required as a prerequisite. If statutory consent has not been obtained, then rather than a full lease a lease-option will be offered (a lease-option will be important where an applicant does not want to commit to the expenditure of pursuing statutory consent without some assurance that a lease will be granted if consent is obtained). A lease-option agreement would remain in place until statutory consent is granted but would lapse if the consent is not granted within the period specified in the option agreement.

Application forms and guidance notes are available on this page.

In Northern Ireland, aquaculture licences are issued by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD). For enquiries regarding aquaculture leases in Northern Ireland, please contact The Crown Estate in the first instance.

Renunciation and assignation of lease

Renunciation

Tenants wishing to renounce a lease must complete a renunciation form (please check the 'forms and guidance notes' section for the relevant link) and submit it to us. Renunciation can only be accepted and confirmed when all applicable obligations under the lease have been satisfactorily observed. For further information please read the section on decommissioning and removal.

Assignation

In the event that the tenant of a Crown Estate aquaculture lease wishes to transfer the tenancy to another party, as part of the sale of the business for example, this can be achieved through assignation of the lease. Any such transfer should be discussed with The Crown Estate aquaculture representatives in the first instance, as any such assignation can only proceed with the approval of The Crown Estate as landlord of the seabed and of foreshore in question. There will be a general presumption against approval of requests for assignation within the first five years of any tenancy, unless exceptional circumstances apply, to prevent speculative lease application by parties not wishing to pursue long term aquaculture business. Pro-forma assignation documents can be obtained from The Crown Estate upon enquiry, following discussion of any proposal.

Pre-application consultation

Whether in Scotland, England or Wales, we encourage those who may wish to apply for a lease or lease option agreement to contact us prior to applying to check on the availability of the location concerned.

We also strongly recommend that proposed aquaculture developments are discussed with statutory authorities and other stakeholders likely to be involved with or affected by the proposed development. In holding such discussions prior to applications being submitted potentially significant issues which may hinder the progress and / or successful conclusion of an application can be addressed at an early stage and any appropriate measures required included in the subsequent application.

Decommissioning and removal of deployed equipment

It is a condition of any lease issued for aquaculture development that at the end of the lease, all equipment associated with the fish farm, including moorings, is completely removed, and this requirement must be factored into any development. We reserve the right to request a seabed survey to confirm such removal where this may be considered appropriate.

Transitional arrangements

Transitional arrangements

The period for transitional arrangements has been extended.

The Town and Country Planning (Prescribed Date) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2010 came into force on 31 March 2010. This extended the period during which the transitional arrangements in respect of The Town and Country Planning (Marine Fish Farming) (Scotland) Order 2007 will apply to 31 March 2013.

This means that where consents or works licences have expired since 1 April 2007, or will expire before 31 March 2013, the site(s) can continue to operate with consented equipment up to 31 March 2013. This may alter if the consent is reviewed or audited by Scottish ministers before then.

Where our lease has expired prior to the granting or refusal of planning permission, the lease will be tacitly relocated. In effect this means that in the absence of a termination notice, the lease will automatically be renewed for another twelve months. At the end of this period, again in the absence of a termination notice issued by ourselves, renewal for a further twelve months will apply, and so on until such time as the review or audit of the original consent has taken place and planning permission has either been granted or refused by the Scottish ministers.

Following review or audit, in the event of consent being granted, a new lease may be applied for. In the event of consent being refused, we will issue a termination notice to bring the tacitly relocated lease to an end at the next anniversary of the original expiry date.

2012 finfish rent review

In August 2010 we informed industry that we would be conducting the five yearly review of standard salmon and trout farm lease agreements, with implementation of any reviewed terms planned for 1 January 2012.

As in previous aquaculture rent reviews, we proposed it would be independently carried out by an appropriately qualified and experienced third party in consultation with The Crown Estate and industry, and we would undertake at the outset to adopt and implement its recommendations.

The 2012 review would constitute a 'lighter touch' exercise than the very comprehensive nature of the 2007 review. Most of the recommendations from 2007 remain appropriate and fit for purpose.

A new review would chiefly address the rate per kilo of the species rent for salmon and sea-grown trout. It would be carried out by an appointed valuation expert assisted by an expert on the finfish/salmon industry who would consult with industry, The Crown Estate and any other bodies they considered appropriate.

Stephen Pollock, a director of James Barr Ltd, was appointed as the valuation expert to undertake the review, assisted by Professor Graeme Dear as the industry expert.

A copy of the draft report was circulated to all finfish farming tenants in October 2011 together with a letter setting out The Crown Estate's proposals for adoption of the report's recommendations.

After considering all the representations we received, our view is that all comments were covered by the consultation and that the report recommendations were fair. The recommendations of the draft therefore remained unchanged in the finalised report.

We will therefore adopt the review's recommendations in full, but in view of the late conclusion to the review have elected to defer implementation of the changes arising until 1 January 2013.

A copy of the final review report can be downloaded below.

Finfish rent review 2012 PDF (830 KB)

2010 shellfish rent review

2010 shellfish rent review

The latest shellfish rent review recommendations were adopted in 2010 following consultation with the shellfish farming industry.

We announced the review of rent and terms and conditions of the lease for farmed shellfish cultivation in March 2010, and the appointment of Stephen Pollock of James Barr Ltd to conduct the review in consultation with ourselves and the shellfish farming industry.

We have considered the content of James Barr's shellfish rent review report carefully and find the recommendations to be well founded with appropriate recognition of both the interests of the shellfish farming industry and The Crown Estate.

We adopted the report's recommendations into a revised form of shellfish farm lease from 1 January 2010.

A summary of these proposals is available by following the link below, as well as an analysis of the revised rent charges and a copy of the rent review report.