24th June 2011, 12:24 PM
As leader of the Council, he's obliged to represent the views of all residents, so I assume that he's asked whether the people of these towns actually want 11,000-16,000 new homes constructed on their doorstep, without any consideration for archaeological or environmental concerns. It's not enough to simply brand them all as NIMBYs, as if this dismisses the value of any concerns they may have. Similarly, it's not enough to say that the bunny-huggers can inspect the site when the footings are being dug, as by that stage, it's too late to preserve anything significant in situ, and the opportunities for rescue excavation will be severely limited.
Tizzy, if you're writing a formal response, I think it's worth stressing how the statements made by the leader of the Council contradict the Council's own policies. It's surprising how often Councillors are entirely unaware of what their own policies are, and it's more embarrassing for them to be shown up as ignorant on a point of fact than to try to convince them of the value of archaeology. If they don't see any value in it, they can dismiss any arguments to the contrary simply because they don't accept the basic premise, but to illustrate their ignorance of specific policy calls into question their basic compentency to do the job by suggesting that they've opened their mouths before being aware of the facts.
Tizzy, if you're writing a formal response, I think it's worth stressing how the statements made by the leader of the Council contradict the Council's own policies. It's surprising how often Councillors are entirely unaware of what their own policies are, and it's more embarrassing for them to be shown up as ignorant on a point of fact than to try to convince them of the value of archaeology. If they don't see any value in it, they can dismiss any arguments to the contrary simply because they don't accept the basic premise, but to illustrate their ignorance of specific policy calls into question their basic compentency to do the job by suggesting that they've opened their mouths before being aware of the facts.
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum