Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. The regulations for consideration by Members of the Senedd today will, if approved, allow heritage partnership agreements in Wales to come into full effect. The Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016 amended existing primary legislation to create heritage partnership agreements. A heritage partnership agreement is a voluntary arrangement for the long-term conservation and management of one or more scheduled monuments or listed buildings. It will be negotiated between the owner of the designated assets, the consenting authority and other interested parties. It will provide a framework for genuine partnership working for the sustainable management of our unique historic environment. Partnership working will build the parties' confidence, encourage good conservation practice and reduce the risk of damaging changes to historic assets through unauthorised works.

Time and resources will need to be invested in the development of heritage partnership agreements, but they will deliver many benefits. The agreements enable greater flexibility for owners in managing their historic assets. They will provide consents for a programme of agreed works, eliminating the need for repetitive and time-consuming individual applications for similar works. Partners will then have clarity about which works do and do not require consent. There will be a more consistent and coherent approach to the conservation and management of the scheduled monuments or listed buildings included in the agreement.

To be effective, partnership agreements will need to accommodate not only a wide variety of sites and conservation requirements, but also different configurations of ownership, management and wider community involvement. While primary legislation quite properly defines elements that are essential to any agreement, the regulations that are receiving our attention today deal with a range of supplementary matters. Before discussing the regulations, I would like to thank the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee for drawing to my attention an erroneous cross-reference in an earlier draft. That cross-reference has since been corrected and the regulations have been relaid before the Senedd.

Although the scheduled monument and listed buildings regulations differ in details due to the parent primary legislation, they cover the same ground, including arrangements for consultation and publicity and mechanisms for the termination of the agreements by Order. Suitable structures for consultation and publicity are important, since the agreements will last for a number of years. In both sets of regulations, the aim has been to create functional consultation and publicity requirements that would be proportionate to the works that may be included in the agreements. Constructive partnership working should be at the heart of every partnership agreement, but the regulations must cater for the fact that, for whatever reason, they may, on occasion, break down.

The regulations provide that the consenting authorities may terminate a heritage partnership agreement or individual provisions by Order, and it is expected that termination by Order would only happen in exceptional circumstances. So, imagine, for instance, a situation where a significant archaeological discovery uncovered during excavation necessitates the halt of consented works against an owner's wishes and it proves impossible to renegotiate the agreement. In addition, the regulations make reasonable provision for compensation to be paid to any parties that suffer loss or damage as a direct result of an agreement or a provision being terminated by Order.

Heritage partnership agreements will give Wales new tools for the effective, long-term management of our precious historic environment. I welcome the opportunity to debate these regulations today, and given the clear benefit that the regulations will bring, I hope that Members will support this motion.