A FRESH call has been made for Crown Estate assets in Wales to be devolved to the country, a call backed by Pembrokeshire councillors last year, after it made £210m profit this financial year.

Today, June 26, the Crown Estate published its annual review, also releasing a Wales-specific review, showing that, in 2025-’26 its profits in Wales were £210m, up from £8.7m in 2020-’21.

Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts said that Plaid Cymru – which has long campaigned for the assets to be devolved – has a “mandate to keep fighting for fairness” with devolving the Crown Estate being a position held by every council in Wales.

The new Plaid Cymru Welsh Government is also pursuing control over natural resources, in line with Scotland, where the Crown Estate was devolved in 2017.

Ms Saville Roberts said that profits from Wales’ natural resources being sent to London is a “striking injustice” and that the next UK Government “must take steps to devolve the Crown Estate to Wales”.

Back in 2025, Pembrokeshire County Council joined other Welsh councils in supporting the Crown Estate assets in the county being devolved to its people.

The Crown Estate owns 65 per cent of Wales’ riverbeds and beaches.

Proceeds from the Crown Estate, which dates to the 17^th century, are split by 25 per cent funding the Royal Family and 75 per cent to the UK Treasury.

Responsibility for the Crown Estate is already devolved to the Scottish Government, which has previously been reported as generating £103.6 million into the public coffers in Scotland in 2023.

A sticking point in Wales is that Westminster has to date been against any change.

A successful notice of motion before Pembrokeshire County Council, by Plaid Cymru councillor Michael Williams said: “We ask PCC to support the proposal for the Crown Estate assets to be devolved to the people of Wales, so that profits can be used to invest in the economy and communities of Wales.

“A poll in 2023 showed that 75 per cent of the population were in favour of taking control of the assets of the Crown estate rather than the profits going to the Treasury and the Crown.

“Local authorities are under huge financial pressure and placing the Crown Estate in the hands of Wales would be a significant step to address the lack of investment in our local government.

“We call upon the Welsh Government to ask Westminster to devolve the assets and revenue of the Crown Estates as a matter of urgency, as was done in Scotland in 2017.

“We demand that Wales is treated fairly and accepts management of the Crown Estate land for the benefit of the people of Wales.”

Councillors have previously heard the Crown Estates derives nearly £60,000 from some 16 leases in Pembrokeshire.

The £59,005 quoted at the time includes £26,600 for foreshore lease agreements, £8,520 for the land around Haverfordwest’s Riverside Market, and £12,800 for a sailing centre and car park at Cosheston Pill near Pembroke Dock.

MORE THAN 100 development schemes in Pembrokeshire, amounting to more than 2,300 homes, are in limbo due to the ongoing Nitrogen Neutrality guidelines from Natural Resources Wales, councillors heard.

At the June meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s services overview and scrutiny committee, members received an update on the ongoing issue of Nitrogen Neutrality which has led to delays in many housing schemes in the county since its introduction last June.

The area which development is required to demonstrate nitrogen neutrality is approximately 75 per cent of the county, including Haverfordwest, Narberth, Pembroke and Pembroke Dock.

The report, presented by Cabinet Member for Planning and Highways Cllr Jacob Williams, focussed on the implications of Natural Resources Wales’ (NRWs) Nutrient Neutrality requirements in respect of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) for development within the Milford Haven Inner waterbody catchment of the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and the measures being taken by the council at a local level to address this issue as well as the council’s contribution to regional and national initiatives.

The report said that, as of May, there were 21 planning applications which were in the system before the introduction of nitrogen neutrality requirements (June 2025) which are now caught and which remain undetermined, along with a further 66 undetermined since that date, and a further  15 applications which are caught by nitrates requirements, but which have not yet reached eight-week determination date.

It said the 102 developments caught by the nitrates issue amounted to some 35 per cent of the total undetermined applications; that figure even higher when determined (refused) schemes were taken into account.

Cllr Williams, who last year with the backing of full council, wrote a letter to the First Minister, conveying the authority’s “great concern over Natural Resources Wales’ recent river nitrates guidance in relation to development, and the serious effects this is having,” said that amounted to 2,376 of 6,741 potential housing units, adding that “Pembrokeshire County Council cannot approve development which is unable to demonstrate Nitrogen Neutrality”.

Last October, Cabinet endorsed an action plan to address the nitrates issue for affected development within its planning area, the early stages already delivered, with a final report due for Cabinet consideration this September in order to determine how mitigation opportunities identified might be taken forward.

Members backed a recommendation to note the action plan progress ahead of the report to Cabinet.

A CALL to allow a Pembrokeshire holiday let, part of a 1979 conversion scheme, to be used as a home for a recently married couple has been submitted to county planners.

In a certificate of lawfulness application to Pembrokeshire County Council, Ethan Tyrer seeks permission for the use of holiday let The Cottage, Llangloffan Farm, Castlemorris, as a residential dwelling.

A supporting statement accompanying the application says: “We are seeking a Certificate of Lawfulness to permanently live in the above address. My wife and I got married last October and we are trying to buy our home.

“Our offer has been accepted by the seller of The Cottage and we have a mortgage approved. The only thing that is holding up our exchange and completion is the planning issue.

“We just need legal certainly that we can live in the property as our permanent place of residence for the mortgage company. All the other properties at Llangloffan Farm are permanent dwellings so it makes sense that the cottage would be too. There is ample parking and a good-sized garden and the property is fully serviced and all ready to live in.

“We run a small local business (window cleaning) so our main work is in the vicinity of Fishguard, Goodwick and Porthgain so this property is the perfect location for our work.

“We are currently living with my parents which isn’t ideal and creating a bit of a strain on both of us. We just desperately want to be in our own home.”

It says an original 1979 application was granted to convert a range of outbuildings at Llangolffan Farm to form four units of holiday accommodation.

“We have taken pre-planning application advice and understand that it is considered that planning permission would not be required for the use of the building as a permanent dwelling house. However, for legal certainty a submission of a section 73 application [to vary or remove a condition of that scheme] would be needed.”

It finishes: “Our mortgage offer expires in September, so we are quite anxious to get this sorted as soon as feasibly possible.”

The application will be considered by county planners at a later date.