2nd June 2004, 07:15 PM
I agree with much of what Dr Wardle says above. A watching brief should only be performed by an archaeologist who is confident enough to stop development, but the point is that this isn't always the case. In the area where I work, inexperienced archaeologists are often sent out to undertake WBs, are often either unwilling or unable to record sites properly. I don't blame the on-site archaeologist as much as I blame the unit that put him/her in that position. Often it seems to me that units have undertaken the job on the condition that they'll find nothing.
Similarly, I agree that if archaeology makes a development uneconomic, that's just tough. If a development is so marginal that the cost of a watching brief is unsustainable, there's bound to be some other cost that crops up which will push it into debt.
However, I don't agree that planning conditions should only be imposed where there is good evidence that archaeology is present. In the case of greenfield developments, there may be no recorded archaeology, but development may encounter something that was not known beforehand.
Similarly, I agree that if archaeology makes a development uneconomic, that's just tough. If a development is so marginal that the cost of a watching brief is unsustainable, there's bound to be some other cost that crops up which will push it into debt.
However, I don't agree that planning conditions should only be imposed where there is good evidence that archaeology is present. In the case of greenfield developments, there may be no recorded archaeology, but development may encounter something that was not known beforehand.