The Crown Estate is facing fresh scrutiny as it emerged it is raking in over a billion pounds of profit from offshore wind farms.
The estate, which owns the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland on behalf of the monarch, recorded profits of £1.1billion in each of the past two financial years – an increase of £658m from 2022-23.
And as King Charles was urged to stop Britain’s seabed being used as a ‘cash machine’, The Mail on Sunday can reveal MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC) are set to investigate.
The committee last week launched a probe into the Crown Estate’s leases on properties to members of the Royal Family after questions over the peppercorn rent paid by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to live in 30-room Royal Lodge.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chairman of the PAC, told the MoS: ‘Given that wind farms are such an important part of the Crown Estate’s income, the issue will inevitably feature when we do our inquiry.’
Greenpeace called on the King to intervene, alleging the Crown Estate has ‘exploited’ its monopoly position to charge hefty fees for the leases which, it claims, is forcing up UK energy bills.
The environmental campaign group claims the estate, whose £15billion portfolio also includes property and vast areas of land, removed a cap on the so-called ‘option fees’ developers pay to reserve rights to the seabed, contributing to the surging profits.
Once the wind farms start to generate electricity, the Crown Estate receives 2 per cent of the revenue generated.
Hellbound and Down 