Lawyers acting on behalf of Greenpeace UK have filed a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office alleging that the Crown Estate is illegally withholding information about profiteering from their monopoly on the UK’s seabed.
Last year, Greenpeace exposed the high option and leasing fees the Crown Estate is charging offshore wind farm developers[1], which slow down development and ultimately drive up energy bills. Greenpeace maintains that the Crown Estate Commissioners are required by the Crown Estate Act 1961 to exclude any element of monopoly value attributable to the Crown’s ownership of land when leasing the seabed for wind power.
The Crown Estate denied that the Act imposed this requirement, but this runs counter to comments made in 2010 to the Treasury Select Committee by the previous Crown Estate Chief Executive, Roger Bright, who described the approach the Crown Estate was taking to determining monopoly value when setting rents for the seabed.
In a letter before action, Greenpeace requested documents from the Crown Estate under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), covering monopoly value, how the Crown Estate calculated it, and how they excluded this value from seabed leases. The Crown Estate refused, claiming that the request was too broad, covering too many documents, and fulfilling it would be too onerous, even though it was confined to documents relating to monopoly value assessment. Greenpeace replied with an even narrower request, and a comment that if documents existed, they must be known without the need for extensive searches. However, the Crown Estate sent an almost identical ‘computer says no’ refusal, citing the same grounds.
After exhausting the Crown Estate’s EIR process, Greenpeace has complained to the ICO to secure the release of the relevant documents, if they exist.
If they don’t exist, this would also be significant, as it would show the Crown Estate is not properly considering whether it is overcharging developers.
Lily-Rose Ellis, climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said:
“The Crown Estate’s option fees are effectively a stealth tax added to people’s energy bills, during the cost of living crisis. Abusing their monopoly position to set fees way above what a free market would support is not only counter to the 1961 Crown Estate Act, but counter to the interests of anyone who pays an electricity bill, counter to the interests of British industry, and counter to the interests of everyone who depends on a stable climate.”
The ICO will respond to the complaint, and can order the Crown Estate to disclose the information sought[2].
ENDS
Notes
- https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/crown-estates-monopoly-profiteering-hampering-offshore-wind-and-pushing-up-bills-greenpeace/
- https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/foi-and-eir-complaints/what-to-expect-from-the-ico-when-making-an-foi-or-eir-complaint/after-you-complain/
Contact Greenpeace UK Press Office – press.uk@greenpeace.org or 020 7865 8255