The Ecclesiastical Exemption (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Wales) Order 2018

Title, commencement, application and supplementary provision

1.—(1) The title of this Order is the Ecclesiastical Exemption (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Wales) Order 2018 and it comes into force on 1 January 2019.

(2) This Order applies to ecclesiastical buildings in Wales which are for the time being used for ecclesiastical purposes.

(3) Nothing in this Order requires listed building consent or conservation area consent for works commenced, or for works in respect of which a contract has been made, before this Order comes into force.

Interpretation

2.  In this Order—

“the 1990 Act” (“Deddf 1990”) means the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990;

“listed buildings ecclesiastical exemption” (“esemptiad eglwysig adeiladau rhestredig”) means the exemption from the provisions of sections 3A, 4, 7 to 9, 47, 54 and 59 of the 1990 Act(1) provided for in section 60(1) to (3) of the 1990 Act(2); and

“the Methodist Church” (“yr Eglwys Fethodistaidd”) means the Methodist Church as defined in section 2(1) of the Methodist Church Act 1976(3).

Exclusion of listed buildings ecclesiastical exemption

3.  Listed buildings ecclesiastical exemption is excluded in respect of all ecclesiastical buildings other than those cases falling within article 4.

Buildings retaining listed buildings ecclesiastical exemption

4.—(1) In this article “church building” (“adeilad eglwys”) means a building whose primary use is as a place of worship, and for the purposes of this definition—

(a) any object or structure fixed to that building; and

(b) any object or structure within the curtilage of a church building which, although not fixed to that building, forms part of the land,

is treated as part of the church building.

(2) Listed buildings ecclesiastical exemption is retained for the following buildings to the extent set out in paragraph (3)—

(a) church buildings of the Church in Wales vested in the Representative Body of the Church in Wales(4) or any other representative body incorporated under section 13(2) of the Welsh Church Act 1914(5);

(b) church buildings within the faculty jurisdiction of the Church of England;

(c) church buildings held in trust by the diocesan trustees of a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church;

(d) church buildings owned by or held in trust for or for the purposes of the Methodist Church or any connexional or local organisation of the Methodist Church;

(e) church buildings held in trust for a Church in membership with the Baptist Union of Great Britain or the Baptist Union of Wales by either—

(i) the Baptist Union Corporation Limited (whether alone or jointly with another person or persons); or

(ii) the Welsh Baptist Union Corporation Limited (whether alone or jointly with another person or persons).

(3) Listed building ecclesiastical exemption is restricted in respect of church buildings falling within sub-paragraphs (a) and (c) to (e) of paragraph (2) to works carried out—

(a) by or on behalf of a church or body, or a constituent part of a church or body, referred to in those sub-paragraphs; or

(b) by or on behalf of the governing body or the trustees of that institution where the church buildings in question are on any premises forming part of a university, college, school, hospital or public or charitable institution.

Exclusion of conservation area consent exemption

5.  The exemption from the provisions of section 74 of the 1990 Act(6) provided for in section 75(1)(b) of the 1990 Act is excluded in the case of all ecclesiastical buildings including—

(a) any object or structure fixed to that building; and

(b) any object or structure within the curtilage of a building which, although not fixed to that building, forms part of the land.

Transitional provisions: objects and structures within curtilage

6.  Article 4 does not apply where an application for listed building consent in relation to any object or structure within the curtilage of a church building which, although not fixed to that building, forms part of the land is made before this Order comes into force.

7.  Revocation of the Ecclesiastical Exemption (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Order 1994

8.  The Ecclesiastical Exemption (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Order 1994(7) is revoked.

Dafydd Elis Thomas

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport, under the authority of the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport, one of the Welsh Ministers

15 October 2018