23rd January 2007, 12:02 PM
I'd agree that the location of archaeologists outside the planning departments means that we areseen as consultees- even in counties where the LPAs pay the costs of the planning archaeologist they don't necessarily view their bit of the post as part of their corganisation and it is difficult for the archaeologist to trolley round all the LPAs on a regular basis so they know who he/she is and what the role is - I don't think many panning officers are really up to speed on archaeology in the planning process and getting them to allocate CPD time to it is a struggle (imn my experience).
The problems with incomplete applications being registered is common - applications for Listed Building work is particularly bad in this respect and is exacerbated becaseu there is not a culture of archaeological recording among conservation officers - some ofthem work on the basis that is a listed building needs recording then the archaeologists will tell them, rather than being engaged from the start withthe owner/developer to ensure that its done properly .
The problems with incomplete applications being registered is common - applications for Listed Building work is particularly bad in this respect and is exacerbated becaseu there is not a culture of archaeological recording among conservation officers - some ofthem work on the basis that is a listed building needs recording then the archaeologists will tell them, rather than being engaged from the start withthe owner/developer to ensure that its done properly .