Implementation
Although the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 (‘the 2023 Act’) became law when it received Royal Assent in June 2023, it will not come into effect until later in 2024. Three major strands of work are required to support the implementation of the 2023 Act.
Although in a number of instances well-established secondary legislation has been incorporated into the provisions of the 2023 Act, secondary instruments — regulations and orders — will still need to be remade to reflect and support the new legislation. To name a few examples, the current regulations on ecclesiastical exemption, the 2012 listed building and conservation area regulations and the regulations for heritage partnership agreements will need to be remade in light of the 2023 Act.
We will not be making any policy changes in the restated regulations — so the effect of the regulations will remain the same. This continues the approach taken in the consolidation of the Act, but there are also pragmatic considerations since time is limited.
We will also need to make a commencement order to bring the Act into force. That order will specify the date later in 2024 when the Act will come into force. Once the order is made, that commencement date will be immovable. The order will be made by summer 2024, so the commencement date will be known well in advance.
References to the existing historic environment legislation — particularly the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 and Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 — are scattered through the Welsh Government’s web pages, guidance publications, and template documents. With the time and resources available, it will not be possible to locate, review and update everything to reflect the enactment of the 2023 Act before the new legislation comes into force.
We will focus our activity, therefore, on updating the main guidance documents for the management of the historic environment:
Planning Policy Wales
Technical Advice Note 24: The Historic Environment
Heritage Impact Assessment in Wales
Heritage Partnership Agreements in Wales
Managing Change in World Heritage Sites in Wales
Managing Change to Historic Places of Worship in Wales
Managing Change to Listed Buildings in Wales
Managing Change to Registered Historic Parks and Gardens in Wales
Managing Conservation Areas in Wales
Managing Easy Access to Listed Buildings in Wales
Managing Historic Character in Wales
Managing Listed Buildings at Risk in Wales
Managing Lists of Historic Assets of Special Local Interest in Wales
Managing Scheduled Monuments in Wales
Managing the Marine Historic Environment of Wales
Setting of Historic Assets in Wales
Understanding Listing in Wales
Forms used in the routine management of the historic environment, for instance for scheduled monument or listed building consent, will also need updating in light of the new Act or the secondary legislation made in conjunction with it.
Some changes will also need to be made to Welsh Government web pages to reflect the 2023 Act. We have already updated our dedicated legislation pages on the Cadw website after Royal Assent and those pages will be further developed in the months ahead. The historic environment pages on Law Wales will also need updating in due course.
The final strand of work in the implementation of the Act is stakeholder activity, which includes not only what stakeholders need to do to prior to the commencement of the Act later next year, but also our engagement with stakeholders to help them prepare for the new legislation.
What specific stakeholders will need to do to prepare for commencement will depend upon their roles and activities. Those with a statutory role, like planning authorities, will need to undertake work much like that being done by the Welsh Government. For instance, they will need to update their guidance and forms to reference the new legislation. Template notices, for enforcement for example, will need to be reviewed and updated to reference the 2023 Act. Websites will also need to be reviewed and amended as necessary.
Other stakeholders, perhaps in third sector groups, may just need to familiarise themselves with the new Act so they know where relevant provisions are located. We suggest that this work should be done between January and September 2024.
In the months before commencement, we plan to develop the information on the pages dedicated to the new legislation on the Cadw website. By the time the Act comes into effect, we aim to have a range of material that will answer most questions about the legislation. The website will be our principal vehicle for disseminating information about the Act.
