I belive pdurdin is right. There is currently no archaeological,advisory service in Merseyside the only reason the HER is still accessible is because the museum have held it. They have no staff working with it hence the need for the charges. The situation is a scandal but across the country there are councils with no Advisory Service or HER!!!! (and of course no charges for accessing a non existent HER)
At Merseyside there is a least on going negotiations to try and find ways of addressing the situation.
So rather protest about charges people should be contacting the relevant councils and complaining about a lack of Archaeological Service.
A big consequence of no archaeological service is that it is likely the archaeological conditions are set by some one who is not archaeologically trained who may ar may not seek advice from the developers own archaeological consultant
At Merseyside there is a least on going negotiations to try and find ways of addressing the situation.
So rather protest about charges people should be contacting the relevant councils and complaining about a lack of Archaeological Service.
A big consequence of no archaeological service is that it is likely the archaeological conditions are set by some one who is not archaeologically trained who may ar may not seek advice from the developers own archaeological consultant