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Northants - Chris Cumberpatch - 20th April 2006
The text posted by 'curator kid' (20/4/06) concerning the proposed cuts to Northamptonshire's curatorial services appears to describe the situation in the county accurately. I posted the same text (originating from the local society's newletter)on behalf of Rescue - The British Archaeological Trust on the Britarch discussion group. Rescue is aware of a similar situation in other counties, notably Surrey and the Isle of Wight and, as other correspondents have suggested, there is no reason to suppose that these will be the only ones. Rescue has been concerned about the tendency of local authorities to pick on heritage as a 'soft target' for a number of years and has consistently compaigned against it at both the local and the national level. Our most recent statement on this matter (urging that the provision of SMRs/HERs to be made statutory) can be found in the evidence submitted to the Culture Media and Sport Committee which we have posted on our website (http://www.rescue-archaeology.freeserve.co.uk) along with the text of all our other papers and responses to calls for comments.
With respect to the current situation we have written to Hugo Swire and Eric Pickles, the Conservative shadow spokesmen on heritage and local government respectively and to David Miliband the government minister within the ODPM who seems to have responsibility for local government. We have urged them to take effective action to avert an extremely serious situation in Northamptonshire and elsewhere. We shall be following up these letters with a series of questions to Northamptonshire CC in the next few days, specifically concerning the provision of planning advice and the monitoring of fieldwork. We also understand that the APPAG has made representations to local MPs. We would urge everyone who is concerned about these matters to write to their own MP raising these and related issues (with copies to Ministers if this seems appropriate). Only when significant numbers of letters from both individuals and organisations such as Rescue start landing on ministers and MPs desks will they start to feel that this is a matter of public concern and one which may affect votes. With the imminence of local elections in many parts of the country, this is a good opportunity to take action and as the comments on this forum and on Britarch make clear, action is most certainly needed if archaeology in this country is not to be reduced to a series of trite tabloid stories about gladiators, celtic warriors and shiny treasure or, more sinister, about nationhood, blood and belonging. Please copy your letters to Rescue and we shall be able to use them (or the numbers of letters at least - naturally we won't quote anyone by name)in our future representations to Ministers and MPs.
Chris Cumberpatch
Secretary
RESCUE - The British Archaeological Trust
Northants - BAJR Host - 21st April 2006
I agree with Chris 100% (and this is a prime example of what RESCUE is all about)
Letters it is then...
Although I am now not one to use standard letters, could you post up a template that can be used and altered accordingly.
I will look into finding the addressess to send to (though hopefully people know their own MP -if not....
MPlocator : http://www.locata.co.uk/commons/
The postal address for all MPs is:
House Of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
I will do all I can, write letters to my MP, the suggestions from Chris and also direct to (in this case,Northants, Isle of Wight and Surrey councils- I will find the correct address for others)
I can put an article in the Weekly Archaeology News podcast, and will see if where else it can be pushed.... but we will have to act. If we can get something together in the next few days, I can also send out letters with the BAJR mailout to every curator, contractor, uni and national org, which I am doing in mid MAY. lets not lose because of apathy
Another day another WSI?
Northants - Tile man - 21st April 2006
I think developments at Leicester city council and northumberland national parks are also of concern, and no doubt many more next year...
Northants - Curator Kid - 21st April 2006
A full list of MP's can be accessed via: http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/clomps.cfm , so if anyone fancies dropping a line to MP's other than their own as well, in areas where services are under threat, then this is where to find out the right person to contact.
Northants - achingknees - 21st April 2006
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Tile man
I think developments at Leicester city council and northumberland national parks are also of concern, and no doubt many more next year...
Tile man, I would be interested in more details about both of these developments.
Mmmm...PPG 16 bubble pops...time to change career trajectory?
Northants - BAJR Host - 21st April 2006
Looking for beefy requirements for Archaeological Advice in the Planning process
like the BV 205 checklist
http://extranet.audit-commission.gov.uk/Portal/Guidance/piDetail.asp?piId=PI310
here he have a hard indicator of archaeological advice giving 'points' to performance targets.
Any more??
Another day another WSI?
Northants - troll - 23rd April 2006
Development in Leicester City have been of huge concern for a while now.Depends who you ask of course.
..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)
Northants - Brigalex - 6th May 2006
Quote:quote:Originally posted by deepdigger
Aye Troll, but you need to make the same amount of noise that we made in london over the poll tax to get any reaction.
And then its generally a mounted police charge first followed by some baton rounds!
deep
I agree with Troll - it is perfectly possible to mount a campaign and should include public support. The issue the public will support is one which results in damage and loss of their archaeology, their heritage. From the public perspective - an a archaeologist loses a job so what? people out there face it all the time but losing planning control is not any old job the ramifications are far reaching and irreversible. Troll said a trickle of letters is insufficient - it represents the objections of a small number of voters, a minority. A campaign can acheive both raising the value of archaeology and archaeologists at the same time and does not have to be led by an archaeologist who fears to speak out in case he/she loses their job or is passed over for promotion / interviews nor does it mean batons at dawn.
Northants - Curator Kid - 15th May 2006
Northants have approved a "Medium Term Plan" setting out their aims for the next few years. Heritage doesn't get a mention (surprise surprise!). If anyone wants to give them some feedback on their "plan", the contact address is on page 29 of the PDF.
http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/112646BC-2247-4E8B-8EBF-3950E30BFA3A/0/MTPfinal.pdf
Northants - BAJR Host - 18th May 2006
Would appreciate the BAJR edit on this letter.
I will be sending this on Monday, which gives you all enough time to add / edit / delete!
YOu could all write your own as well.. based on this... it only takes about 5 minutes!
Dear Sir,
It with grave concern that I learn of the reorganisation of the service which includes archaeological advice within the development control planning process. It is unfortunate that you feel this valuable service can be maintained with either a reduced staffing level or by a planning conservation officer, no matter how skilled in that field, with only a passing knowledge of archaeology. A skill to predict archaeological issues and advise on suitable courses of action and mitigation can only be carried out by a suitably qualified archaeologist with years of experience.
I was also concerned to read through your recent Medium Term local plan which completely seemed to ignore any form of Heritage asset within the County. It has been widely shown that heritage, in all it's broad meanings, forms the basis of both local pride and community well-being. In financial terms it is a serious and tangible assets, with tourism investing in the local economy, heritage within education providing a school children (and adults) with an informed view of the country and world, as well as providing them with the skills to investigate, and also health benefits (such as visiting sites in the countryside).
To ignore your heritage is to ignore the very thing that makes us who we are. A real understanding and love of our past benefits us all, I sincerely hope you do not lose an irretrievable resource to balance a short term account. Protect it and share it, with skilled staff or pare it back to an unsustainable position, that once arrived at, will make us all the poorer.
Yours sincerely
Another day another WSI?