20th April 2006, 10:28 AM
From the Northamptonshire Archaeological Society's Newsletter: -
"COUNTY COUNCIL AXES HERITAGE SERVICE
NAS members will recall that a NASNEWS newsflash went out earlier this year to highlight Northamptonshire County Council's proposed closure of its historic environment service. Sadly NAS understands that the County Council has confirmed that as part of its restructuring which followed its earlier budget announcements, its Built and Natural Environment service, which includes the Historic Environment Team (formerly known as Northamptonshire Heritage), closed at the end of March 2006.
Most of the existing posts, including the Team Leader (previously referred to as the County Archaeologist), Historic Environment and Conservation officers have been axed. Fortunately, the Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) will continue to be maintained by NCC but will in future be managed by Northamptonshire Record Office. As an externally funded post, the Northamptonshire Finds Liaison Officer post will be largely unaffected and will continue with its recording of archaeological artifacts found by metal detectorists and members of the public. These changes involve only the County Council?s historic environment ?curatorial? service not the archaeological field unit ?Northamptonshire Archaeology? which will continue to operate as normal. Two new historic environment posts are being created but these will only be concerned with the County Council?s strategic planning and work on management of its heritage assets. The County Council intends in future to focus its resources on its core strategic priorities and have a much less active role with Northamptonshire?s historic environment. The services which it has previously provided are not statutory and as a result the County Council will no longer provide these.
The role fulfilled by the now defunct team included provision of archaeological advice and guidance to the local District and Borough authorities, developers, land ownners and members of the public on planning applications across the county - in line with Government advice. They also set standards for the conduct of archaeological fieldwork undertaken by the myriad of archaeological contractors that operate in the county as well as monitoring their work. Other services included wide ranging advice and guidance to local councils, other organistions and individuals on everything ranging from the impact of new tree planting schemes to the care of care of individual monuments, historic buildings and landscapes.
NAS is finding it difficult to establish which planning and management advice roles will be maintained by the County Council and which may be picked up by the District and Borough councils. Without such input there will be no means to assess and where appropriate mitigate the impact of new development proposals on archaeology and related heritage. The absence of clearly defined responsibility for such work could be a recipe for disaster with archaeological sites and monuments potentially put at risk of damage or destruction from new development. NAS would encourage members to contact the County Council, West Northamptonshire Development Corporation and their local District and Borough councils to seek assurance that effective measures will be put in place to ensure that their local heritage is taken into account when planning applications are being considered. The extensive new growth planned across the Northamptonshire makes this more important than ever. Without adequate safeguards, the county?s archaeological heritage may be in serious danger of sliding into the situation we witnessed before the 1970?s with local authorities unable or unwilling to stop the destruction of our past in the face of new development."
This is bad news, and I fear it's the first of many. :face-confused:
"COUNTY COUNCIL AXES HERITAGE SERVICE
NAS members will recall that a NASNEWS newsflash went out earlier this year to highlight Northamptonshire County Council's proposed closure of its historic environment service. Sadly NAS understands that the County Council has confirmed that as part of its restructuring which followed its earlier budget announcements, its Built and Natural Environment service, which includes the Historic Environment Team (formerly known as Northamptonshire Heritage), closed at the end of March 2006.
Most of the existing posts, including the Team Leader (previously referred to as the County Archaeologist), Historic Environment and Conservation officers have been axed. Fortunately, the Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) will continue to be maintained by NCC but will in future be managed by Northamptonshire Record Office. As an externally funded post, the Northamptonshire Finds Liaison Officer post will be largely unaffected and will continue with its recording of archaeological artifacts found by metal detectorists and members of the public. These changes involve only the County Council?s historic environment ?curatorial? service not the archaeological field unit ?Northamptonshire Archaeology? which will continue to operate as normal. Two new historic environment posts are being created but these will only be concerned with the County Council?s strategic planning and work on management of its heritage assets. The County Council intends in future to focus its resources on its core strategic priorities and have a much less active role with Northamptonshire?s historic environment. The services which it has previously provided are not statutory and as a result the County Council will no longer provide these.
The role fulfilled by the now defunct team included provision of archaeological advice and guidance to the local District and Borough authorities, developers, land ownners and members of the public on planning applications across the county - in line with Government advice. They also set standards for the conduct of archaeological fieldwork undertaken by the myriad of archaeological contractors that operate in the county as well as monitoring their work. Other services included wide ranging advice and guidance to local councils, other organistions and individuals on everything ranging from the impact of new tree planting schemes to the care of care of individual monuments, historic buildings and landscapes.
NAS is finding it difficult to establish which planning and management advice roles will be maintained by the County Council and which may be picked up by the District and Borough councils. Without such input there will be no means to assess and where appropriate mitigate the impact of new development proposals on archaeology and related heritage. The absence of clearly defined responsibility for such work could be a recipe for disaster with archaeological sites and monuments potentially put at risk of damage or destruction from new development. NAS would encourage members to contact the County Council, West Northamptonshire Development Corporation and their local District and Borough councils to seek assurance that effective measures will be put in place to ensure that their local heritage is taken into account when planning applications are being considered. The extensive new growth planned across the Northamptonshire makes this more important than ever. Without adequate safeguards, the county?s archaeological heritage may be in serious danger of sliding into the situation we witnessed before the 1970?s with local authorities unable or unwilling to stop the destruction of our past in the face of new development."
This is bad news, and I fear it's the first of many. :face-confused: