23rd February 2006, 01:55 PM
No it is not a turf war, it is about all the archaeology that has been destroyed so far, it is about the setting too, which is clearly far more important to some than others. It is about whether quarrys can quarry anything they like so long as they have friendly farmers with ploughs.
It is about features being "roughly dug" due to lack of funds or time, it is about Mesolithic pit alignments being regarded as important enough to let NYCC and EH know about it prior to destroying them. It is about a development timescale that sees the features destroyed before the results of professional research has been delivered.
The bottom line is, if you feel that a monument being ploughed means we should overlook the rules and allow the entire area to be quarried, then you have to ask yourself how many features would be left in this country and if setting that precedent is good for archaeology, or for development.
Are we not supposed to be pushing the boundaries in a positive direction? Or do we just give up? The ploughing argument seems to me to be the "lets give up" argument.
Ultimately, we should not and cannot be held to ransom because the system has flaws. We must work to fix the system, not give up on it altogether.
Save the Thornborough Henge Complex - http://www.timewatch.org
It is about features being "roughly dug" due to lack of funds or time, it is about Mesolithic pit alignments being regarded as important enough to let NYCC and EH know about it prior to destroying them. It is about a development timescale that sees the features destroyed before the results of professional research has been delivered.
The bottom line is, if you feel that a monument being ploughed means we should overlook the rules and allow the entire area to be quarried, then you have to ask yourself how many features would be left in this country and if setting that precedent is good for archaeology, or for development.
Are we not supposed to be pushing the boundaries in a positive direction? Or do we just give up? The ploughing argument seems to me to be the "lets give up" argument.
Ultimately, we should not and cannot be held to ransom because the system has flaws. We must work to fix the system, not give up on it altogether.
Save the Thornborough Henge Complex - http://www.timewatch.org