Published

Milestone Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 takes full effect

In a joint written statement issued today, 4 November 2024, Julie James MS, Counsel General and Minister for Delivery, and Jack Sargeant MS, Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership, announced that the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 has come into full force, along with the regulations made to support it.

From today, the Acts that provided the legislative framework for the management and protection of the Welsh historic environment for decades — principally the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 and the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 — no longer apply in Wales. The Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 (‘the 2023 Act’) has replaced them and has given Wales the most up-to-date historic environment legislation amongst the UK nations. Made in Wales for Wales alone, the 2023 Act is free of confusing references to other UK jurisdictions and, for the first time, it provides law for the historic environment that is completely bilingual in Welsh and English. Anyone interested in Wales’ rich archaeological and built heritage can turn to the 2023 Act and its supporting regulations for historic environment law that is logically structured, consistent and expressed, as far as possible, in plain, everyday language. While the new legislation makes it easier for everyone to find, understand and apply the law, it makes no changes to the current management and protection of the Welsh historic environment.

The commencement of the legislation also marks two significant milestones in the history of the modern Welsh law book. The Act itself represents the culmination of the Welsh Government’s first consolidation project in its ambitious programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law. Consolidation is one of the most effective methods for bringing order and clarity to an area of law. Consolidation brings together existing legislation on a subject, modernises the form and drafting of the law and restates it bilingually for Wales alone. While it may change the organisation and presentation of the legislation, a guiding principle of consolidation is that does not change policy or alter the effect of the law.

The 2023 Act and its substantive supporting regulations all expressly state that they are ‘part of a code of law relating to the historic environment of Wales’. They therefore constitute the first code of law produced under the accessibility programme. Codification provides the means to maintain the structure and integrity of the law once it has been brought to order through consolidation or reform. The intention is that future Senedd Acts are enacted and maintained so that users of the legislation will be able to find as much of the law affecting a particular topic as possible by reading a single Senedd Act and any subordinate legislation made under it.