25th January 2005, 09:42 PM
A lawyer won't help, the legal principle is too fundemental. As I understand it, the problem is that units are not employed by the authority themselves but are employed by the developer, who has the right to choose whoever he wants - just as he can choose whoever he wants as a builder. There is nothing for the curators to remove contractors from.
If however an authority directly employs a builder, or specialist subcontractor (say an electrical subcontractor) then they are indeed selected from an approved list - as are architects or anyone else engaged by the council.
The planning condition requiring archaeological investigation could require the work to be done by a demonstrably competent and appropriate body, I suppose, and Valetta could make that reasonable (if not mandatory!). So, if a unit has done poor work in the past it could be held as evidence of incompetence. It would have to stand up to legal scrutiny though.
I still say licensing or registration is the best bet though (I can hear a popular archaeology magazine wailing already!)
If however an authority directly employs a builder, or specialist subcontractor (say an electrical subcontractor) then they are indeed selected from an approved list - as are architects or anyone else engaged by the council.
The planning condition requiring archaeological investigation could require the work to be done by a demonstrably competent and appropriate body, I suppose, and Valetta could make that reasonable (if not mandatory!). So, if a unit has done poor work in the past it could be held as evidence of incompetence. It would have to stand up to legal scrutiny though.
I still say licensing or registration is the best bet though (I can hear a popular archaeology magazine wailing already!)