Member

Secondly, the rest of my amendments have a separate function: to raise the status of assets of cultural value within the Bill. The current wording of Schedule 29 with regard to a list of assets feels messy. At the moment, the only reference to cultural assets is to “cultural interests” as a subsection of “social”. “Social” is not the same as “cultural”. I am willing to accept, within the context of this Bill—I did not do this for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill—that an asset of cultural value can be a form of community asset, but it should not be further down the hierarchy. It is at present somewhat buried. If we are to take assets of cultural value seriously—I believe the Government want to do so—they should occupy a more prominent position within a list of assets. I hope the Minister agrees, but I ask her to promise to look at the wording more generally. At present, it is rather confusing.