16th February 2007, 02:19 PM
I agree with you entirely about the contingency.
However, decisions on avoidance or Scheduling need to be made on the basis of the best information available at the time. On the face of it, the information available at the time would not have justified Scheduling - the National importance of the site couldn't have been predicted without intrusive works, for which land access was necessary ... all a bit circular, I know.
Avoidance may have been justifiable (or even advisable), but we can't say unless we know more about context. For instance, would realignment have caused a different environmental impact (e.g. destroy a nationally-important wildlife habitat, or demolish a house, or destroy another archaeological site)? Again, that decision would have to be made on the best information available at the time, which was the results of the geophysics.
In other words, to comment meaningfully here, we don't just need the desk-top survey (previously mentioned by Dr Pete), we need the whole Environmental Statement.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
However, decisions on avoidance or Scheduling need to be made on the basis of the best information available at the time. On the face of it, the information available at the time would not have justified Scheduling - the National importance of the site couldn't have been predicted without intrusive works, for which land access was necessary ... all a bit circular, I know.
Avoidance may have been justifiable (or even advisable), but we can't say unless we know more about context. For instance, would realignment have caused a different environmental impact (e.g. destroy a nationally-important wildlife habitat, or demolish a house, or destroy another archaeological site)? Again, that decision would have to be made on the best information available at the time, which was the results of the geophysics.
In other words, to comment meaningfully here, we don't just need the desk-top survey (previously mentioned by Dr Pete), we need the whole Environmental Statement.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished