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Ymateb gan: Trinity House | Evidence from: Trinity House

Y Pwyllgor Llywodraeth Leol a Thai | Local Government and Housing Committee

Bil Diogelwch Adeiladau (Cymru) | Building Safety (Wales) Bill

 

Trinity House,

Tower Hill,

London,

EC3N 4DH.

 

        

Local Government and Housing Committee,
Welsh Parliament,
Cardiff Bay,
Cardiff,
CF99 1SN.                                                                                                  05 September 2025

 

Building Safety (Wales) Bill Consultation – Written Representation

 

Dear Members of the Committee,

I write to you as the Legal Executive for the Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond (‘Trinity House’). Trinity House is the General Lighthouse Authority (‘GLA’) for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the adjacent seas and islands.

It has statutory functions, powers, and duties (found mostly under Parts VIII and IX of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995), which includes promoting the safety of navigation by vessels at sea.

Trinity House’s primary role as a GLA is to deliver a reliable, efficient, and cost-effective aids to navigation service for the benefit and safety of all mariners. This includes the superintendence and management of lighthouses, buoys and beacons within Trinity House’s area and covers the inspection and audit of all local aids to navigation, of which there are several thousand.

Accordingly, I write in regard to the above-named consultation, the period for which to provide comments is due to end on 8^th September 2025. Trinity House is of the view that the Bill, as currently provided, may have unintended consequences on our statutory duties and operations more generally.

As Part 1 of the Explanatory Memorandum, published 7^th July 2025, highlights, the purpose of the proposed Bill is to introduce a new building safety regime, focused on ‘multi-occupied residential buildings’, with categorised risk levels determined by the height and number of storeys of any given building. This proposal is in response to the risks identified by the various inquiries, reviews, and expert groups established in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Whilst the proposed Bill is constructed to achieve its own objectives, the overarching themes are as provided in the Building Act 1984 (‘BA’), Building Safety Act 2022 (‘BSA’) and supplementary Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023 (‘HRBR’), which together prescribe a broad framework for building safety standards.

Section 7 of the HRBR, which prescribes exclusions from the definition of a ‘higher-risk building’, in accordance with s.120 BA and as consequentially applicable to the BSA, does not list Trinity House as an excluded organisation, despite being a Government arms-length body (‘ALB’), with statutory duties which are paramount to the safety and safe navigation of the mariner. This is despite hotels, for example, being excluded from meeting the related requirements. Trinity House feels that this is an unintended oversight of the drafting, which has had real and onerous implications for our operations.

Trinity House notes that Schedule 1 of the proposed Bill lists buildings that are excluded from being regulated buildings. This schedule follows a format similar to that prescribed in the HRBR. It also does not list Trinity House as an exempted organisation. As we own lighthouses in Wales, including at least one which may fall within scope of the Bill as proposed, we would respectfully request the Committee to consider the inclusion of Trinity House in Schedule 1. This is so that we may continue to provide our services and carry out our statutory functions without any unintended consequences, as we have faced with the introduction of the BSA and supplementary HRBR.

Trinity House will not be drawn to comment on other aspects of the proposed Bill which would not necessarily directly affect us. We would, however, be content to provide responses to written questions directed to us, where appropriate and applicable to our statutory functions.

If the Committee has any relevant questions for Trinity House, please do write to me at jack.walker@trinityhouse.co.uk.

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

 

Jack Walker

Legal Executive