REVIT Heritage Report.pdf

Torfaen County Borough Council
REVIT: A Review of the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Assets on Brownfield Sites
to the local authority on the implications of developments on the built heritage
and provide guidance on listed building and Conservation Area applications.
3.3 Wales
Heritage Bodies
3.3.1 The Department for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language looks after
heritage issues in Wales and forms part of the Welsh Assembly Government.
3.3.2 In Wales various government supported bodies protect and manage the
archaeological and built heritage. These organizations recommend to the
ministry the buildings for listing, monuments for scheduling and landscapes,
parks and gardens for registering as well as retaining the definitive base data
on protected such sites.
3.3.3 In Wales, Cadw (Welsh Historic Monuments) is the executive organization
responsible for the protection of archaeological sites, monuments, listed
buildings, parks, gardens and landscapes. In addition, in Wales unlike
England, the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of
Wales (RCAHMW) still remains separate from Cadw.
3.3.4 The Welsh planning authorities are advised by regional Archaeological Trusts,
who are separate from the local authority. These archaeological groups
maintain databases of their areas called the Sites and Monuments Record
(SMR), but now increasingly known as Historic Environment Records (HER).
3.3.5 The various Welsh local authorities also generally retain their own architectural
and landscape conservation staff. The conservation staff provides advice to
the local authority on the implications of developments on the built heritage
and provide guidance on listed building and Conservation Area applications.
Legal Framework England and Wales
3.3.6 The statutory framework for the protection and management of England and
Wales’ cultural heritage is provided by two Acts. The Ancient Monuments and
Archaeological Areas Act 1979, is the primary legislation for the protection of
archaeological remains. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation
Areas) Act 1990 protects the built heritage.
3.3.7 The former act protects nationally important sites as Scheduled Ancient
Monuments (SAMs) as well as recommending preservation in situ for
nationally significant sites, whether they are scheduled or not. The latter act
provides statutory protection for the built heritage in the form of listed buildings,
which are defined as being of special architectural and historic interest, and
Conservation Areas, which are areas of special architectural and historic
interest, the appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.
3.3.8 In addition Hedgerow Regulations (Section 97, The Environment Act, 1997)
sets out a presumption in favour of retaining historic hedgerows and
‘hedgebanks’ (with hedges) which are over 20m in length and older than 30
years that are considered to be historically, ecologically or visually important.
3.3.9 Each local planning authority in England and Wales, within the scope of the
Town and Country Planning Act publishes its own Local or Unitary planning
policies which usually include policies on the protection of archaeological sites
and monuments, listed buildings and conservation areas.
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