Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Can I say, I’m delighted to open this debate on behalf of the Petitions Committee? Earlier this year, the Petitions Committee and the Business Committee agreed to introduce a new petitions threshold whereby any petition that gathered more than 5,000 signatures would be considered for a debate here in Plenary. At the time I was a member of the Business Committee, and it is by a small quirk of fate that I, as Chair of the Petitions Committee, now stand here introducing this, the first debate on a petition to have achieved that threshold. I hope Members here today will support this innovation for the Assembly’s petitions process, which will potentially provide another route for anyone in Wales to bring their ideas and concerns directly to the Chamber. It is a splendid example of democracy in action. We, the Petitions Committee, hope that we receive a number of petitions with this level of support over the course of this Assembly.

The petition before us today was organised by Richard Vaughan and concerns the protection given to live music venues in Wales. The petition was open for signatures during April this year, and in that time it was signed by 5,383 people. The petition calls on the National Assembly for Wales to take steps to protect live music venues in Wales. Importantly, it suggests two ways of achieving this. Firstly, the petition calls for the agent-of-change principle to be introduced into Welsh planning law and guidance. The principle seeks to put the onus on the developers of new premises, whether residential or commercial, to plan adequate noise reduction measures if there is an existing business such as a music venue nearby. Secondly, the petition calls for local authorities in Wales to have the ability to recognise places as areas of cultural significance for music within the planning framework. This would then potentially have a bearing on future planning applications in the vicinity of such areas.