Cooke & Arkwright

The Crown Estate Appointment

19/06/08

The Crown Estate has appointed Cooke & Arkwright to manage The Crown Estate’s Marine Estates interests in Wales for the next five years. This covers the foreshore area between mean high and low water, and estuaries and tidal rivers around a substantial part of the Welsh coastline in the former county estates of Monmouth, Glamorgan, Carmarthen, Pembroke, Cardigan, Merioneth, Caernarvon, Anglesey, Denbigh and Flint.

The Crown Estate’s team of coastal, environmental and offshore specialists and support staff manage the entire Marine Estates interests. Cooke & Arkwright will act as The Crown Estate’s representative within Wales undertaking all day to day work, managing the land through leases, licences, easements and consents, and providing advice and reports to the Marine Estates on future developments.  As part of the contract Chartered Surveyors Jones Peckover will manage The Crown Estate’s Marine interests in North Wales as approved sub-contractors to Cooke and Arkwright.

“We are delighted to have appointed Welsh firms with such well established credentials,” said Neil Jacobson, Head of Coastal Operations. “We are confident that Cooke & Arkwright will represent the interests of The Crown Estate and contribute positively to the overall management of the Coastal and broader Marine Estate in Wales, delivering the associated benefits to the Principality.”

In the 2006/7 financial year, the net revenue surplus from The Crown Estate in Wales was £2.5m. The revenue generated by the Estate goes to the Treasury for the ultimate benefit of the taxpayer as The Crown Estate property does not belong to the Government, nor is it part of the Sovereign’s private estate. Its assets also bring benefits for leisure and long term employment in Wales.

Rod Perons, a director at Cooke & Arkwright’s Bridgend office, said that the firm welcomed the opportunity to provide expertise in specialist areas and to maintain a local presence.  “We will be helping to develop a constructive relationship with tenants and other parties with marine interests in Wales, including environmental groups and regulatory bodies,” he said.  Mr Perons, together with surveyor Chris Hyde, form part of the team based within Bridgend who will manage the contract and the Marine Estates interests in Wales.

Cooke and Arkwright brings a wealth of experience to the role through John Skinner, a long term consultant at the firm’s Cardiff office.  Mr Skinner has provided extensive advice on high profile projects such as the proposed £100m waterfront development at Martello Quays in Pembroke Dock and the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals at Milford Haven, where 30% of the UK’s gas requirement is scheduled to be piped into the country.

“The Crown Estate is unique,” said Mr Skinner. “It has a hugely diverse portfolio of assets and we are conscious of the requirement to manage the Marine Estates sensitively, to create value financially and environmentally for us all, and to conserve our heritage.”

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