The Crown Estate has rejected allegations made by Greenpeace UK that it is withholding information about what the campaign group described as “profiteering” from a “monopoly on the UK’s seabed”.
The seabed landlord said it is “accountable to Parliament, manages information in line with the law, and will engage constructively with any potential review” in response to a complaint filed by Greenpeace today (2 March) with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Greenpeace said it had made the complaint after requesting documents from the Crown Estate covering “monopoly value, how the CE calculated it, and how they excluded this value from seabed leases”.
It alleges the request was refused due to factors including being “too onerous” before a second narrower request was rejected for similar reasons. Greenpeace said after “exhausting” this process it has complained to the ICO to secure the release of documents.
It claimed that if the requested documents did not exist then it “would show Crown Estate is not properly considering whether it is overcharging developers”.
Climate campaigner for the group Lily-Rose Ellis said option fees were a “stealth tax” to the consumer and that the Crown Estate had “set fees way above what the market would support”.
A Crown Estate spokesperson said: “Greenpeace misunderstands our legal duties and how offshore wind leasing works. It is wrong to suggest we prioritise short term gain or that Round 4 projects – which are not yet built – are affecting consumer bills.
“Option fees are set by developers through open, competitive auctions, not by the Crown Estate, and all revenues are returned to the Treasury for the benefit of the public.
“The Crown Estate is accountable to Parliament, manages information in line with the law, and will engage constructively with any potential review by the ICO.”