 THE man who will chair the biggest inquiry into the operation of the Crown Estate for 60 years has questioned why the body has involved itself in owning estates and shopping centres in Scotland.  Glasgow Labour MP Ian Davidson, who chairs Westminster s Scottish affairs Committee, yesterday visited Inverness to discuss a separate inquiry into the Crown Estate with different bodies such as Highland Council; Highlands and Islands Enterprise; Community Land Scotland; Tenant Farmers  association and Scottish Coastal Forum.  Mr Davidson said the meeting was to begin work on the inquiry s terms of reference and it would be next year before the report would be completed.  He said proposed development of offshore renewable wind, wave and tidal energy projects had heightened interest in the Crown Estate, and its role in granting leases to the seabed.  He admitted that he did not know too much about the Crown Estate but its ownership of certain properties in Scotland had rather bemused him. The Crown Estate owns The Glenlivet, Fochabers (Moray), applegirth  (Dumfriesshire) and Whitehill (Midlothian) estates, which are administered by the Crown Estate Commissioners (CEC).  Mr Davidson said:  I must confess I don t immediately see why the CEC do some of the things they do in Scotland. They seem to run some farms and estates and presumably they run them reasonably well, but what is the point?  They have just bought a shopping centre near Edinburgh, Fort Kinnaird. What s the point of that?