Hansard

Looking round the chamber, I am tempted to say,

"Wherever two or three are gathered together".

Scotland's national portrait gallery currently features an exhibition called "Telford: Father of Modern Engineering". Thomas Telford designed, upgraded and built many Scottish ports. Today's ports and harbours play an essential role in Scotland's life. The sea provides transport, fishing and, in modern times, energy. Harbours are economic cornerstones of this country.

In Shetland, Lerwick harbour and the council's ports and harbours, including the Sullom Voe oil terminal, are vital to island life. Some 80 per cent of Scottish ports have either trust status, like Lerwick, or are owned by public bodies, such as councils. They are all run to benefit the communities that they serve. Many are successful commercial businesses, such as Lerwick Port Authority, whose profits are reinvested in improved harbour facilities and in businesses, to benefit the wider community. Others can never be a commercial proposition. Ferry terminals or piers on small islands such as Foula can never make a profit, but they serve the people of those islands in a vital way.

Investment must continue, whether the harbour was designed by Thomas Telford in the 1800s or by firms such as Arch Henderson today. No harbour can stand still as ships get larger and need greater quays and deeper water. This week, Aberdeen Harbour Board announced a £20 million investment programme. Peterhead, in the minister's constituency, is doing much the same thing, as is Scrabster. In Shetland, buoyed by the intensely competitive marketplace for the decommissioning of oil rigs, Lerwick is looking to expand. I hope that the enormous oil jacket at the Gremista industrial estate that is being dismantled by international consortia will be the first of many.

The debate is about the barriers to and the costs of investment. Ports face a series of charges that are imposed on them by the Crown Estate: for the leasing of the sea bed below their piers; for purchasing the sea bed for land reclamation projects; and for consents to dredge in areas where the Crown sea bed gets in the way of safe navigation. A harbour that defrays the dredging costs by using the material to build quays is charged a royalty on every tonne used. On land, landfill taxes give developers an incentive to reuse excavated material on their sites. At sea, the Crown Estate's royalty on reused dredged material has precisely the opposite effect.

In Shetland, the Crown Estate collects more than £75,000 a year in lease charges from the council and the port authority. Over the past 10 years, those bodies have together paid nearly £900,000 to the Crown Estate. Lerwick Port Authority is about to embark on a major port development project to improve its competitiveness for the oil industry. The port authority will, despite comments suggesting the contrary, have to pay the Crown Estate in excess of £600,000 for that project. If the project expands—I hope that it will—those charges will rise. That money could and should be spent on investing in the ports and harbours of the constituency that I represent: in the future of the islands' economy and in the people.

I acknowledge that the Crown Estate's marine policy has changed. It no longer just taxes—it now wishes to invest. There are, however, some profound questions about the Crown Estate's role. If it invests in one port and not others, the Crown Estate potentially distorts the marketplace, which in this area is highly competitive. What investment appraisal system can, after all, explain why the Crown Estate invested in Peterhead, but not in Aberdeen or Lerwick? How would the competition authorities consider such a role, and where does that leave Government guidance, which states that port investment must make a commercial return? It cannot be argued that Peterhead, Aberdeen or Lerwick has failed to invest and gain investor confidence in the past.

The question must be whether the Crown Estate's role, and the income from the charges that it receives as a landlord, is compatible with an investment strategy that raises profound questions of which port and why. Those assets are being developed by successful harbour businesses, and every penny that is earned goes back into the business. Why should the Crown Estate charge on an asset that could be managed professionally over the long term by the ports themselves? That is the business outcome that I want to see.

There are other areas of concern. Salmon farmers in my constituency still question what they get from the charge that they pay to the Crown Estate—the same applies to boat owners and community marina operators. The new telecom cable from Faroe to Shetland and onwards—I am please to note that it has been welcomed by the minister's colleague, Mr Mather—incurs additional costs. The enormous potential of green energy, not just in my constituency but in those of Liam McArthur and Alasdair Allan, and that energy's transmission to the marketplace are all affected by the current regime.

The Scottish National Party Government has said much about reducing regulation, and Jim Mather has argued for lower business taxes. I agree, but the Crown Estate's presence in the Parliament this week, sponsored by Jamie McGrigor—I congratulate him on that effort—is positive. So, too, was the Crown Estate's appearance before the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, and its commitment, as I understand it, to some form of increased dialogue and collaboration with Parliament through reports.

I will support the Government and the minister, if he is prepared to look at reform. Liberal Democrat MPs at Westminster hope to use the much-delayed United Kingdom marine bill to drive change in this area, and I hope that the minister will support that work. The Crown Estate review working group, which has in many ways initiated a healthy debate in this area, shows that Parliament can use existing devolved powers.

The SNP has had a Government conference on Trident—so what about action on the Crown Estate? The Scotland Act 1998 states:

"The Scottish Parliament will, however, be able to legislate to affect the Crown Estate".

As a minister, I initiated consideration within Government on reform. Such issues are complex—I am sure that Mr Stevenson would tell me that. There is and there was—I make no bones about it—institutional reluctance to rock the boat, but that boat must firmly be rocked.

Scotland's ports need investment—Telford would have argued for that, and I do too. However, as businesses they need to be freed of additional taxes and charges that potentially slow and blunt their competitiveness. That is why I have brought the debate to Parliament.