Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023

The Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 and its suite of supporting secondary legislation came into full effect on 4 November 2024.

This is the first consolidated legislation in the Welsh Government’s initial five-year programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law. This historic piece of legislation provides fully bilingual, orderly and accessible law for the effective protection and management of our unique historic environment so that it can continue to contribute to the well-being of Wales and its people.

With the full commencement of the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023, 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 new legislation will make it easier for everyone to find, understand and apply the law, but it will make no changes to the current management and protection of the Welsh historic environment.

The full text of the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 is available on the Senedd website and on legislation.gov.uk.

Also available on legislation.gov.uk are supporting documents that will help you better understand the legislation and its drafting:

• Explanatory notes — specific commentary on provisions that should be read in conjunction with the Act
• Drafters’ notes — commentary on decisions taken in the drafting of the legislation
• Table of origins — legislative source of provisions in the Act
• Table of destinations — location in the Act of provisions in existing legislation.