Policy, advice and guidance

Anti-racist Wales 2030 and Public Commemoration

Wales is committed to becoming an anti-racist nation by 2030 and one goal of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan is to deliver a balanced, authentic and decolonised account of the past. In 2020, The Slave Trade and the British Empire: An audit of commemoration in Wales raised questions about how we define our history, what we can do about monuments that condone slavery, and how and what we should teach the next generation. There is no one size fits all solution to the challenges of a legacy of racism and under-representation in public spaces. The Welsh Government’s Public Commemoration in Wales: Guidance for Public Bodies instead emphasises the need for public consultation in breadth and in depth to build a consensus for change, and the wide variety of possible approaches. This guidance applies to Wales only as heritage is a devolved matter, although custodians of heritage assets around the UK may like to consult it. The emphasis of the guidance is on anti-racism, but the approach it sets out is relevant when addressing other areas where balance in commemoration may be an issue, including Wales’s own experience of colonisation. Implementation of the guidance will likely take very different forms from one community to the next, but across Wales there is a consistent need for honest history at sites of high public honour.

Planning Policy Wales

Planning Policy Wales is being amended to reflect the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 and its supporting regulations. In the meantime, the current document remains valid.

Planning Policy Wales sets out the Welsh Government’s land use planning policies. Its primary objective is to ensure that the planning system contributes towards the delivery of sustainable development and improves the social, economic, environmental and cultural well‑being of Wales, as required by the Planning (Wales) Act 2015, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and other key legislation.

Chapter 6, ‘Distinctive and Natural Places’, explains how the planning system must take into account the Welsh Government’s objectives to protect, conserve, promote and enhance the historic environment as a resource for the general well-being of present and future generations. It also sets out the planning policies for the sustainable management of specific categories of historic assets.

Technical Advice Note 24: The Historic Environment

Technical Advice Note 24: The Historic Environment is being amended to reflect the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 and its supporting regulations. In the meantime, the current document remains valid.

This technical advice note provides guidance on how the planning system considers the historic environment during development plan preparation and decision making on planning and listed building consent applications. It also provides specific guidance on how the following historic assets should be considered:

scheduled monuments
archaeological remains
listed buildings
conservation areas
historic parks and gardens
historic landscapes
historic assets of special local interest
World Heritage Sites

The technical advice note usefully gathers together the selection criteria employed in the designation of scheduled monuments and listed buildings and the registration of historic parks and gardens and historic landscapes.

Best-practice guidance

We are in the process of amending Cadw’s guidance documents to reflect the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 and its supporting regulations. In the meantime, the existing documents remain valid.

Cadw has produced a series of best-practice guidance publications that complement the legislative framework and associated planning policy and advice and support the sustainable management of the Welsh historic environment. All are informed by Cadw’s Conservation Principles for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment in Wales. Some are aimed primarily at owners, while others are intended for local planning authorities, but all are accessibly written and freely available on the Cadw website.

Sixteen titles have been released so far:

Heritage Impact Assessment in Wales

Heritage Partnership Agreements in Wales

Historic Environment Records in Wales: Compilation and Use

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