Diolch, Llywydd. I note the terms of the petition and heed the calls being made to better support live music venues and the night-time economy.

I have commenced a review of ‘Planning Policy Wales’ to ensure it best fits with the intentions of our well-being goals. I’ve also stated my intention to include a clear and explicit reference to the agent-of-change principle.

The planning system should be an effective enabler of the development we need to support national, local, and community objectives. This includes protecting the vibrancy of areas like Womanby Street, which I visited yesterday with my colleagues Jenny Rathbone and Julie Morgan, and where I met several of the campaigners. These areas offer a cultural experience for customers and provide a space to foster creativity in the grass-roots music scene. I acknowledge the various challenges facing live music venues. Lots of small businesses face these, and, where we can assist through positive action, then we will do so.

I’ve listened to the specific calls to introduce a clear reference to the agent-of-change principle within our national planning policy. The changes I propose to make will better equip local planning authorities and give them the confidence to apply this principle when considering new developments.

Existing policy in ‘Planning Policy Wales’ also states two important things: new uses should not be introduced into an area without considering the nature of existing uses, and local planning authorities can consider the compatibility of uses in areas and afford appropriate protection where they consider it necessary as part of their local development plans.

In supporting the night-time economy there is a need to give particular consideration to the compatibility of different uses. Trying to sleep whilst coping with night-time noise is a very real issue. However, the night-time economy is important in economic terms as well as providing the cultural experiences and entertainment that feature highly as part of our lifestyles. We need to strike the right balance between providing homes, enabling visitor experiences, protecting live music venues, and ensuring the health and well-being of local residents.

The revised ‘Planning Policy Wales’ will go further and be more explicit about the agent-of-change principle. It will offer greater support to allow authorities to more fully protect areas of significant cultural experience for music. The different characteristics that give identity to places need to be recognised fully as part of decisions on planning applications. Where noise mitigation offers an appropriate solution, it must be implemented. This is about redressing the balance and ensuring all issues are given equal consideration.

I want to take this opportunity to clarify a few points that underpin our decision to focus on changes to ‘Planning Policy Wales’. There has been no legislative change to enshrine the agent-of-change principle into UK law. The changes proposed in England in regard to agent of change are to alter their national planning policy framework, which is their equivalent to ‘Planning Policy Wales’, and the proposals are not to change the law.

It is more expedient to embed agent of change through amendments to planning policy rather than changes to planning law. To enshrine the agent-of-change principle into law would mean it always becomes a material consideration, even where it is not relevant, and time would need to be spent to discount it. This is not the most effective way to proceed, as it is not a proportionate response.

It is not necessary to make any changes to planning law to ensure the agent-of-change principle forms part of decision making. Focusing on policy change and including this principle in national policy means it becomes a material consideration for decision makers in all cases in which it is relevant with immediate effect. This is a proportionate and expedient measure.

In a similar vein, the only reason for asking local planning authorities to include cultural designations for music in their LDPs as a matter of law would be to ensure that all LDPs include them. This is not necessary, as these issues will not be relevant in many places—for example, in smaller towns or rural locations.

Embedding this through national policy means, where it is relevant to designate areas based on evidence, local planning authorities will be able to do it through their development plans. The plan itself has statutory status and decisions will then need to be made in accordance with the plan. This is the proportionate approach needed to address these issues.

In England, the permitted development rights were changed so it was possible to change offices, which are typically occupied during the day, into blocks of flats, which are sensitive to noise during the evening and night, without the need for planning permission. In England, this has led to very significant problems for music venues and the rest of the night-time economy and they’ve rolled back these changes a little in response to the successful campaign by the Music Venue Trust. These changes were never made in Wales and local planning authorities continue to have the final say over whether planning applications from offices to flats should be approved. In England, this policy has also seen some very small homes created as a result of changes to permitted developments, reportedly some as small as 16 sq m—the so-called dog-kennel flats, 40 per cent smaller than a Travelodge room. This is not something I would want to see in Wales.

Finally, the law on statutory nuisance, as defined in the Environmental Protection Act 1990, is the same in England and Wales. It provides a basic level of protection for citizens from noise that is prejudicial to health or a nuisance. The planning system and the well-being of future generations Act require both the protection of our cultural heritage and the creation of homes that are safe and healthy for people to reside in. We cannot do the latter if we water down nuisance law.

So, the answer is not to water down people’s rights in respect of noise nuisance, but rather to address this matter through improvements to planning policy. Planning is a preventative mechanism and can seek solutions. I want to make it clear this is the basis of the changes we are putting forward. I’m confident the changes that I propose to make will strike the right balance. They will give everyone involved in the process the confidence to obtain solutions that benefit all, and support a thriving live music scene. I’ve already written to planning authorities telling them to apply the agent-of-change principle with immediate effect, and further changes will be published as part of my overall revision of ‘Planning Policy Wales’. Diolch.