Commentary on Sections Part 2 — Monuments of special historic interest Chapter 6 — Acquisition, guardianship and public access Section 45 — Power to place monument of special historic interest under guardianship
160.Section 45 enables a person with a particular type of legal interest in a monument of special historic interest to place it into the guardianship of the Welsh Ministers or a local authority (where the monument is in, or in the vicinity of, the local authority’s area). The types of legal interest required are set out in subsection (5). In practice, this means that monuments are usually placed into guardianship by a freeholder or a person holding a long-term lease. The transaction is undertaken through the execution of a “guardianship deed”.
161.Guardianship transfers responsibility for the maintenance and conservation of the monument, and wide-ranging control of the management of the monument, to the guardian. See section 47.
162.The Welsh Ministers are, at the time of writing these notes, the guardians for 108 monuments, including many of the most outstanding prehistoric and medieval monuments in Wales.