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For anyone who has not already seen this doing the rounds on Facebook or the like:
Quote:Regulations governing new developments including the need for archaeological surveys are to be swept aside from July 1, a council leader announced last night.
Conservation rules will be relaxed and development area boundaries will be a thing of the past, said Alan Melton, leader of Fenland council.
?Common sense will prevail...the bunny huggers won?t like this but if they wish to inspect a site, they can do it when the footings are being dug out...This will stop the stupid requirement of having to strip a whole site"
For the full story see the
Eastern Daily Press
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Damn, sorry, hadn't realised that Relictor had already posted this in
Hold the Front Page.
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What an idiot. And what a poorly-constructed and ill-thought-out speech.Leaving aside the substance of what he said, one can only hope that he's beenbadly-edited in the newspaper report. If not, it doesn't say much for the levelof understanding among elected members in relation to not only planning andarchaeology, but also environmental, economic, and social issues. This seems tobe policy as dictated by for-profit development, and to hell with what anyoneelse thinks - exactly the sort of argument I've heard countless developers andtheir agents trot out. I bet that if youasked his constituents whether they supported the sort of unrestricteddevelopment he appears to be advocating, few would be in favour.
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum
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I understand from another forum that the councillor in question is also a quantity surveyor and director of a construction company.... Now reread his little speech bearing that in mind and suddenly the 'unacceptable face of capitalism' and blatant self-interest begins to rear its ugly head....
With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...
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Quote:Tens of thousands of pounds spent on excavations at the Neale Wade Community College, March, sprang to mind, he said, and this was “money wasted, money that could have been spent on more classrooms or teachers”.
Any surveys “that are currently in the pipeline and that are not currently subject to litigation but are giving grief can be discarded….tomorrow morning.”
And thats of course the fallacy that this money would somehow be given to teachers. It is blatant playing to the public gallery. There is never a connection between construction money and money to pay teachers. Shame on the man... and as Kevin points out... could it be a bit more about what he does??
Did one of his mates complain about the excavation and bloody archaeologists!
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Email sent to him - lets see what comedy reply we get. Thanks to those who added comments that I included in my email.
Digging the Dirt has also commented... worth a look
http://www.diggingthedirt.com/2011/06/22...%E2%80%99/
ah... got there before me!
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Is this guy going to get away with this?!
The archaeology in the Fens is very important (as is archaeology everywhere) and I take offence to being called a 'bunny-hugger'!
Sounds like he does have his own agenda as Kevin pointed out...
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kevin wooldridge Wrote:I understand from another forum that the councillor in question is also a quantity surveyor and director of a construction company.... Now reread his little speech bearing that in mind and suddenly the 'unacceptable face of capitalism' and blatant self-interest begins to rear its ugly head....
If this is true, it's absolutely appalling - he'd be using his public position to further his private commercial concerns, which must breach some sort of councillor code of conduct. If he's the leader of the Council, his job should be to represent all residents, not just one narrow special interest group whose views happen to coincide with his own. As I mentioned on the other thread dealing with this, the Council will have local and structure plan policies dealing with the treatment of archaeology, these policies will have been formulated in a considered manner and approved by a vote of the whole council, so probably can't just be dismissed on the whim of a single individual. Were they to be abandoned, the local plan would need to be amended to reflect this, and the altered policies approved by the councillors as a body, rather than by diktat.
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum
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How can he ride over pps??? He cant override council policy on a word, this would need a full vote and authorisation by the council lawyers...
