Committees of the National Assembly for Wales that have been considering the Historic Environment (Wales) Bill – the Communities, Equality and Local Government as well as the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committees – issued their reports on 9 October 2015, and these demonstrate how the IHBC’s input continues to help shape political understanding of practitioner perspectives.
IHBC Wales Branch Chair Nathan Blanchard said: ‘The IHBC welcomes the recent publication by the National Assembly’s Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee’s report on the draft Historic Environment(Wales) Bill. We note the Deputy Minister’s acknowledgment of our concerns for the amalgamation of historic environment controls with those of general planning controls, indicating the risks of the denigration of professional conservation expertise in local planning authorities far outweighed any potential cost savings. The Committee helpfully noted and echoed IHBC concerns that without additional funding for local authorities the good intentions of the Bill and its measures would be diminished in practice.’
‘For example, the proposed additional powers for Urgent Works Notices being a case in point, where the measures and additional recommendations of the Committee to ensure any resultant costs would be taken as a first charge, would undermine local authorities ability to tackle the growing backlog of buildings at risk in Wales, without the strategic and financial support of the Welsh Government to support taking the action in the first place.’
‘The Deputy Minister’s unfortunate inability to recognise the lack of resources supporting the Bill is reflected by the proposal for local authorities to take on Historic Environment Records (HERS), despite legitimate concerns being raised by those bodies most affected being dismissed by him. The costs and risks have not been properly examined and remain a key weakness of the Bill, leaving the resultant impacts falling on diminishing local authority budgets without the guarantee that any additional costs will be borne solely by the Welsh Government.’
The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee has also recommended ‘that the Deputy Minister should table an amendment to the Bill, requiring the Welsh Ministers to lay before the Assembly the [HER] guidance issued in accordance with section 36’.
