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The Powers of the National Assembly
for Wales:
issues and questions for consultation
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| The National Trust Wales welcomes the opportunity
to respond to this consultation paper. |
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Background
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| The National Trust is a charity, independent
of government, founded in 1895 to "promote the permanent
preservation of places of historic interest or natural
beauty for the benefit of the nation". The Trust is the
largest conservation organisation in Europe, supported
by 3 million members, 72,000 of whom live in Wales. As
a charity it relies on membership subscription, gifts
and other voluntary support to meet its £148m annual conservation
and maintenance costs. |
| The National Trust Wales owns and cares for
over 222 kilometres of coastline including many tourist
beaches on Gower, Pembrokeshire, Llyn and Anglesey. It
also owns 43,130 hectares of land in Wales much of it
in Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons. Over 200 tenants
farm eighty percent of its land. Eighteen of The Trust
properties in Wales are open at a charge including some
of the principality’s finest castles and gardens.
The properties have unique legal protection "inalienability"
– they cannot ever be sold or mortgaged without permission
of Parliament. |
| The National Trust Wales has a hundred years
of experience in managing Wales’s heritage and landscape.
The Trust is continually evolving its policies and practices,
which requires careful integration of conservation and
innovation. The Trust is determined to protect the environment
of Wales, whilst supporting the people that work and live
on our properties, and providing access for everyone to
enjoy the Trust’s (i.e. the Nation’s) land and
property. |
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Response
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| National Trust work and the Assembly’s
powers |
| The National Trust stands at a critical moment
in its development, with a long and successful track record.
The context in which the Trust works and the challenges
it faces are ever changing and the Trust has recently
carried out an organisational review. This has enabled
the Trust to build on existing work and to move forward
and succeed in our charitable objectives in an ever more
challenging environment. As part of the review the Trust
has developed new structures and processes to ensure consistency
with the outside world and as a response to devolution.
As a consequence the Trust is now well placed to work
even more closely with the National Assembly for Wales
and it’s agencies for the mutual benefit of the people
and places of Wales. |
| The National Trust operates in a wide
variety of areas in Wales, and many of these functions
are covered by the powers currently delegated to the Assembly.
These include: |
| Agriculture, forestry and food; |
- provision of support to farmers, including the administration
of the Common Agricultural Policy, assistance for
organic conversion and farm diversification.
- the promotion of agri-environment schemes and support
- the activities of the Forestry Commission in Wales
|
| Industrial and Economic development; |
- the activities of the WDA and WTB
- rural regeneration
- the administration of European Structural Funds
in Wales
- tourism; promoting Wales as a destination and regulation
of the Welsh tourism industry
|
| Education and Training |
- the national curriculum in Wales
- further and higher education and lifelong learning
and the activities of ELWa
- work based and vocational training in Wales
|
| Environment, planning and transport |
- protection of ancient monuments and historic buildings
in Wales, and their promotion as tourist attractions,
including the activities of Cadw
- activities of the Countryside Council for Wales
- policy on and directions to the National Parks and
areas of outstanding natural beauty in Wales
- wildlife protection
|
| and Arts, culture and the Welsh language |
| the activities of the National Museums and
Galleries of Wales, the National Library of Wales, including
their funding and direction |
| Funding Streams |
| The above list covers many of the Trust’s
interests, which are fully devolved to the Assembly, and
we currently receive funding from Welsh Assembly Government
derived sources including CCW, Cadw and Objective 1. |
| The National Trust, although a charity
is empowered by its own Acts of Parliament passed in 1907,
1937 and 1971 to hold and protect land on an inalienable
basis. This unique legal protection means that some of
the finest coastline, landscapes and other historic properties
in Wales cannot ever be sold or mortgaged off without
permission of Parliament and are therefore permanently
secured for the benefit of the nation. The Review could
provide an opportunity in Wales to examine and strengthen
this unique power which lies at the heart of The National
Trust’s existence. It is this factor which attracts
the major support of the Trust and allows it to truly
proclaim this it exists "for ever for everyone". |
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Yours sincerely
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Iwan Huws
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|
Director for Wales
The National Trust Wales
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