Proposed Budget Cuts to Archives and Heritage in Northamptonshire

[BAJR]

The BBC has reported that Northamptonshire County Council are proposing to cut funding for their archives and heritage department (which incudes the HER, Portable Antiquities Scheme and county archives service) by £75,000 over the next five years through a reduction in staff numbers.

A formal consultation on the proposals has now closed, however the final council meeting to discuss the proposals is on February 20th so there is still time to let the council know your views.


There are more details about the proposals on the council website and in the briefing note below.


This article in British Archaeology from 2012 gives more background into the history of the archaeology service in Northamptonshire and the worrying impact that previous cuts have had on archaeology in the region.


If you live in Northamptonshire and you want to find out who your county councilor is you can use the postcode search facility on the council website.



CBA Briefing Note - Proposed Cuts in Northamptonshire (312.3K, .PDF)
Briefing note about the current proposals to cut funding to the Northamptonshire Heritage and Archives Service

(from the CBA)

[Dinosaur]

The numbers relating to the fall and rise (and presumably impending fall) of planning applications with identified archaeological impacts says it all, really

[GnomeKing]

BTW; spot on Dino:

"The County Council reduced the archaeology service significantly in 2003 and again in 2006, 'resulting' in a sharp fall in the number archaeological investigations requested in advance of new developments.
In response tolocal and national pressure the council reinstated the service in 2009/10 and the number of planning applications with identified archaeological implications[SUB][SIZE=4]ROSE [/SIZE][/SUB]by approximately 80% [!!!!](http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba122/feat2.shtml). "


hmm...unless there were major diffrences in the areas/types of development coinciding very neatly with funding patterns between those years - + assuming the heritage rersources are in fact static and not gone walk-a-bout- this seems like a substantive case to add to wider arguments...

(a thought...are the statstics collected the same between those years?any other factors like thtat to consider?)