The Queen's representatives who manage Scotland's shores are working for the benefit of the UK Treasury and not the coastal communities who live and work there, according to a Westminster committee.

MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee complained that the Crown Estate Commission (CEC) should provide more benefit to people in the Highlands and Islands.

They have already called for control to be devolved to Holyrood on the understanding that power would then flow down to local communities.

Chairman Ian Davidson, a Labour MP, said: "We remain convinced that the transfer of these assets from an over-centralised London to an over-centralising Edinburgh would not be sufficient, and that local people and local authorities should be given primacy in determining how these assets should be developed and how financial benefits should be distributed.

"Only when the scale is too large to be dealt with locally should upward transfer be contemplated.

"We have seen and heard nothing which would deflect us from our previous view: that the proposals set out by the Highlands and Islands local authorities should be the clear basis on which to proceed."

Two years ago, the committee recommended that these Crown property rights and interests, which are not the personal property of the Monarch but are held in trust for the nation, should be decentralised as far as possible to the level of the people living and working in these areas.

The committee said it was "very disappointed" with the Government's response, which rejected the report's main proposals and only agreed to "some limited reforms", including a fund to help coastal communities.

The committee vowed to revisit the issue and new evidence taken in Scotland and England has "reinforced the committee's view that decentralisation is essential if local communities are to benefit from the development of these national natural resources and assets".

The committee's previous report called for the CEC's responsibilities over the administration and revenues of the ancient crown property rights and interests in Scotland to be ended.

However, it warned that simply centralising these responsibilities in Edinburgh instead of London is not sufficient and would not address the fundamental problems identified.