Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this afternoon’s debate. Clearly, I’m going to support Dai Lloyd’s attempts in bringing this Bill forward, which is important in terms of our heritage and history as a nation.

As has been mentioned by a number of Members this afternoon, there was a thorough debate in the last Assembly, and amendments were tabled by us as a party and by other parties, and we did reach some sort of consensus on the list, but we still weren’t happy with the fact that there was no means of protecting those place names within the legislation as it was passed in the last Assembly. I do believe, and still believe, that that was a missed opportunity to ensure that the legislation could be more robust. As Dai Lloyd has already highlighted, a list is simply a list, and we must put some meat on the bones in order to ensure that people can use that list and have faith in how that is developed.

Of course, any new guidance in that regard is going to be a positive development, but that isn’t going to be on a statutory basis, so I need to know from the Minister today how that is going to change the situation as it currently exists, and how people can ensure that that list is robust in and of itself. Because I think what’s important in this debate is how we protect and defend our heritage in terms of our past, and also how we discuss and deal with what’s happening in contemporary society. If place names are to change just on a whim, because someone prefers another name, then how can we actually tell our own story about the history of a certain field or of a particular industry unless there is some sort of status to that heritage for the future?

As one who has brought legislation before this place in the past, I don’t really buy the argument about cost in terms of this Bill. I know that Dai Lloyd has presented some information about that, because he wants to reach a compromise with Government. But, if something is a political priority, then something like a list and protecting these place names shouldn’t be impossible. I have heard the Government saying in the past that relatively complex things are possible, and I don’t see how this could be too complex to be achievable if the political will is there to deliver in this area.

I would want to hear more from the Minister as to how we can use the historic environment records in that regard. There are people doing some very detailed work in gathering data on a daily basis at the moment. Some of our historic names remain unknown because of the fact that archaeologists are only now working in the field, carrying out that research. So, how can we use these records to complement the work of the list? That is what I would want to add to this debate today.

Also, one of the amendments I put forward in the last Assembly was that individual people should be able to add to the list or remove names from that list. Of course, somebody needs to monitor that and there need to be safeguards, but this provides a means for ordinary people across Wales to become involved in this process. And so, if someone—as Suzy is aware of something locally in Aberdare, for example, if someone is aware of something in their own locality that isn’t a national issue at the moment, they could add that to that list as part of the debate on this issue.

I think it’s important that we don’t lose our history, and that we celebrate it and that we see the value of it, and, through place names—. Some people may think that it is not important, but, through place names, we can understand our history. We all here have our own names as individuals. Neil Hamilton has described Dai Lloyd’s name, but it makes us as an individual—our name is who we are, it reflects our personality, and I think the same is true for place names, be it a house, a field, a mountain. We know that mountain or hill or field through that name, and there is a sense of ‘hiraeth’ or a more fundamental relationship with that place because of its name. So, we shouldn’t discount the argument, and I’d like to thank Dai, therefore, for bringing this idea forward again. I very much hope he will be successful, as Dai has been successful with previous legislation when he’s been a Member in the past in terms of playing fields. Thank you.