20th April 2006, 09:37 PM
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
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
