PPS5 - Maintaining HERs

[kevin wooldridge]

I absolutely agree Oz, and I wasn't imagining for a second that the pressures on LA funding were somehow going to bypass archaeology. My point was however that if access to and/or the maintenance of HERs became a statutory function for LAs, they would have to give serious consideration to how such facilities are to be funded. I was trying to say that they/we should spend the next year getting arrangements in place for the 2011/12 tax year, as surely it is now too late for the coming year. There is a major difference between statutory obligations to provide or use a service and 'permissory' functions in LAs. Most archaeological functions in LAs at present fall under the 'permissory' category rather than statutory functions hence the increased pressure to effect savings when other 'front-line' services are at risk.