Independence campaigners got their feet wet over the weekend, calling for the stop of what they call ‘Crown Estate piracy of Borth beach’.

Local campaigners from YesCymru, which wants to see an independent Wales, gathered on Borth beach on Sunday as part of its Banners on Beaches Day of Action, calling for Wales to have control over the Crown Estate.

YesCymru from Gogledd Ceredigion and YesCymru Machynlleth congregated on beaches all around Wales from Anglesey to Aberafan, saying Welsh natural resources are being exploited for the benefit of the UK Treasury and the Crown.

The Crown Estate acts as a gatekeeper for organisations seeking to use the seabed.

It is responsible for authorising oil and gas pipelines, aggregate extraction, and fish farming. It also holds the rights to offshore natural resources and energy.

The value of the Welsh Crown Estate is now worth £603m and 99.6% of the Crown Estate’s property value in Wales is tied up in marine renewables. The Estate’s Welsh assets have increased 522%, thanks to offshore renewables leasing.

YesCymru Gogledd Ceredigion spokesperson, Terry Evans, said: “It is quite clear from conversations we had on Borth beach that the locals support this campaign and are shocked at how the super-rich elite benefit from this piracy. Whilst ordinary Welsh citizens are struggling to pay their heating bills, the Crown and shareholders of energy companies are raking in millions in the City of London and abroad. This causes massive inequality and impoverishes our communities. The majority of the Welsh population now want to see the Crown Estate controlled by Wales, not the UK, so that its assets benefit communities like Borth, rather than being syphoned off by the UK Treasury. Scotland now run their Crown Estate and it’s about time that Wales was given the same power. All profits generated from Wales’s natural resources should be invested here. The only way we can guarantee that happening is that Wales becomes an independent nation.”

Plaid Cymru have also called for Wales to have control of the Crown Estate, with Delyth Jewell MS, the party’s spokesperson on energy and the environment saying earlier this year that “profits from Scotland’s natural resources goes to the Scottish Government - why not in Wales?”

Ms Jewell added that the money could be used to help create well-paid green jobs.

The Crown Estate says it ‘works closely with the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales to manage land and the seabed sustainably over the long term and to bring broader economic, social and environmental benefits to Wales’.