The Crown Estate seldom manages moorings directly; currently the one exception to this is on the River Hamble in Hampshire. In the majority of cases we grant a block lease or licence to an appropriate body, such as harbour commissioners, a local authority, boat club or fairways committee and in parts of Scotland, a moorings association. These bodies provide local administration and sometimes the mooring tackle and other facilities and make appropriate charges to the boat owners.
Examples around the country include the various fairways committees on the River Deben in Suffolk, Lymington Harbour Commissioners, Yarmouth and Cowes Harbour Commissioners, East Devon District Council, Gwynedd County Council and North Down Borough Council.
Rents and Charges
It is important to understand the difference between Crown Estate rents and charges to boat owners. Boat owners pay the local market rate for a mooring, which depends on the type of mooring, the length of boat, the location of the mooring, costs in neighbouring areas, etc. They pay this to the mooring operator. The mooring operator pays a ground rent to The Crown Estate. The rent simply grants the right to lay moorings.
The ground rent is set with regard to charges made by both Crown Estate lessees and by other landowners for similar mooring facilities. Each mooring area is treated individually. The Crown Estate takes into account a number of valuation factors such as:
- Location
- Catchment area
- Geographic advantages and disadvantages (e.g. distance from cruising grounds)
- Environmental / scenic considerations
- Ease of access from sea and land
- Tide
- Shoreside facilities
- Security
- Popularity
The Crown Estate does not set charges for boat owners. That is a matter for the moorings operator. However, by leasing areas to responsible local bodies we do everything we can to ensure that the needs of all sailing enthusiasts are met, whatever the size of their boat or income.
In practice, the overall effect of our policies has been to continue to provide some of the most competitively priced and best run moorings in the country. We believe this situation reflects the fairness of our policies and the sensibility of our approach to moorings leases and rents.
Managing Agents
To maintain a local presence and to provide expertise in specialist areas of valuation we employ managing agents. Their role is to advise on all aspects of marine estate uses. They carry out rent negotiations with existing and prospective tenants under clear guidelines laid down by us. To find your managing agent please follow the link to the marine estate map and click on your area of coastline, or visit our agents page:
Marinas
As with moorings, The Crown Estate does not manage marinas directly but instead leases land for their development and management. Our current practice is to assess the rent on the basis of a percentage of turnover of the marina. The marina operator sets its own charges based on the location, facilities provided and prevailing market rates. Not all marinas are on Crown Estate land but those that are include Haslar and Gosport Marinas in Portsmouth Harbour, Neyland Marina in Pembrokeshire, Conwy Marina in North Wales and Bangor Marina in Northern Ireland.
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