1st January 2006, 05:51 PM
Quote:quote:I was under the impression that curators were there to ensure that archaeology (amongst other things)was carried out to a standard? ... surely IFA standards are the benchmark they use?
- posted by Troll
Not really. Curators were there before the IFA standards ever existed, and their purpose has not changed - essentially they are part of the development control process. Their purpose is not to ensure that archaeological work is done to a specific published standard, but to advise a planning authority on the following:
- are there archaeological reasons to refuse planning permission?
- if not, is there a need for an archaeological planning condition?
If there is a planning condition, they are then responsible for agreeing the scope of work and monitoring its implementation to make sure it is done up to scratch. 'Up to scratch' in this context means to whatever standard is defined in the curator's brief and in the agreed WSI. That may be an IFA standard, but it could just as well be something devised by the curator or the contractor/consultant, or there could be no defined standard at all.
The IFA have no power over curators or over the organisations for which they work, so they can't make them use the standards. All they can do is define the standards and hope people adopt them. However, if the work itself is done by an IFA member and/or RAO, they can take action against the member/RAO if it is not done to the standards, irrespective of whether the standard was specified by the curator.
This can put RAOs in a bind, if they are tendering against organisations that are not RAOs and the use of the IFA standards is not specified. However, that does not mean that the standards will only ever apply to RAOs/individual members.
If the curator specifies the IFA standards, then they can take enforcement action through the planning system if the standards are breached - irrespective of the status of the contractor - but only if their authority will back them, and I don't know if this has ever been done.
If I specify the IFA standards in my Specification, then I can take action if they are breached, on contractual grounds - and I have done so.
Irrespective of whether anyone reports a breach to the IFA, they can only take action if the contractor is an RAO or the work is done by a member. They have no powers over anyone else.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished