The Blue Commons, Rescuing the Economy of the Sea

Until the 1960s, there was no legislation declaring crown ownership below the low watermark. But as North Sea oil and gas drilling began to take off, companies wanted to know who owned what. The Energy Act of 2004 passed by new labor allowed the crown estate to take part of the revenue from offshore wind and wave power electricity. And then George Osborne in 2011 introduced a new measure in which the crown estate was entitled to 25% of all its revenue from its commercial activities. So today, exploitation rights of the UK seabeds remain with the crown.