Southport - support or betrayal?

[P Prentice]

you need to look at the proposal as a complete package. just as the natural environment sector is settling down to professional and amateur workers coexisting side by side (from a starting point where most of the work was amateur) and now providing a very powerful lobby which the public respects and is happy to maintain, so to can the historic environment. nothing in what southport advocates is a threat to professionals and in fact strengthening the powers of the regulatory bodies to insist on high quality projects rather than allowing the cheapest products can only work in our long term favour. and remember that not all archaeology is conducted on a building site, but that which is, will still be subject to the same stringent h&s requirements which will always mitigate the level of amatuer input. the proposals may well allow some amateur groups to work on development control sites which might otherwise not go ahead due to the high cost of professional mitigation - but so what? better that somebody digs it than somebody else accidentally looses it - which appens!!

the writing is on the wall - and we should all read it, adapt to it and make sure it works for us

and yes i am a professional contracting archaeological manager mifa