New environment bill for Wales

The first Wales-only legislation to improve the protection and management of Wales’ unique historic environment has been passed by the National Assembly for Wales.

When it becomes law, the Historic Environment (Wales) Bill will introduce new measures to protect Wales’ historic environment.

It will make it more difficult for individuals who damage protected monuments to escape prosecution by pleading ignorance of a monument’s status or location.

It will also introduce new powers to take urgent action to stop unauthorised work to historic sites and to prevent historic buildings from falling into disrepair.

For example, it will allow the development of a system of preservation notices and will give local authorities new ways to recover their costs when they have to take direct action.

Once the Bill is law, Wales will also become the first country in the UK to put historic environment records on a statutory footing – a measure that stakeholder groups having been calling for across the UK.

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