We know that, across Wales, names of historic farmhouses and homes are being lost. Losing these names means that we are losing part of our local and national heritage. It was disappointing that the Government in 2017 voted against the principle of developing legislation in this area, and I still believe that there is more that the Welsh Government can do to protect these names—mere guidance does not do it. There is currently no legal protection for house names in Wales. It is clear that there are a range of ways in which the Government could do that, and we know that there are organisations and academics who support further Government intervention in this area. A number of countries worldwide have identified that historical place names are important and have developed legislation in order to protect such names. So, there is certainly potential there to learn from others. There may be scope, for example, to create a requirement for an individual to seek legal consent from an authority when seeking to change the name of a house or any other place. This authority might be the local planning authority, as is the case now with listed building consent. Currently, if a householder wants to change the name of their house, they must apply to their local authority department responsible for street naming and numbering. However, the local authority doesn't generally have any powers to reject a name change, apart from instances where there may be duplication of the name locally.

In cases of applications for changes to property names, current Welsh Government guidance sets out that local authorities are expected to check the national list of historic place names, mentioned by Janet, when processing such applications. If a historic name appears on that list, or if an officer is aware of one from another source, the applicant should be encouraged to retain that name. Unfortunately, as I have argued on a number of occasions, encouragement doesn't guarantee the protection of historical house or place names. Legislation does, which is why the Welsh Government should explore this further. Diolch yn fawr.