Clwyd West AM Darren Millar has welcomed a proposal for new laws for the protection of the historic environment, but has called for it to do more to protect Wales’s important religious buildings and war memorials.
The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill, was laid before the Welsh parliament this week and will give Ministers powers to make owners who damage monuments undertake repairs, require more consultation when listing historic buildings, and extend protections for Wales’ historic parks and gardens.
Darren supports the proposals, but believes that the law could achieve more by helping to ensure that religious buildings and war memorials are also given extra protection.
Speaking in the Senedd he said:
“I note with interest that the Bill will create a statutory register for historic parks and gardens - that’s something I very much welcome - but a similar register of religious buildings is also needed in Wales, because there are, indeed, many churches, chapels, synagogues and mosques that are of historic importance to this nation that are not currently listed buildings.
“The Deputy Minister will know that we’ve had conversations about Pisgah chapel, for example, in Loughor, which is a small, unassuming building but, nevertheless, very important to many people, not only in this nation, but also internationally, because of its role in the religious revival of 1904-05, and its relationship with the leader of that movement, Evan Roberts, the revivalist.
“I do think that if we had such a register in existence in Wales, chapels such as Pisgah and other places of worship that would be afforded that little bit of extra protection that they need to be safeguarded for future generations.”
Darren also emphasised the need for the Bill to ensure that war memorials are also afforded the protection that they require. He said:
“These are important places, not just for local communities, but, of course, also for international visitors to Wales, who may be coming to our nation simply to try to identify a memorial with the name of a loved one, a family member or someone that they associate with in our nation. It is crucial that they are afforded better protection from removal or destruction too.”