8th November 2008, 11:42 AM
Ummm.....not sure that there is really a story here at this particular moment in time. The lack of Conservation Officers in post at many local authorities merely highlights the fact that local government rarely has the resources to appoint to positions other than those fulfilling its statutory obligations.
However, there is a story bubbling under here and the MP for Stockport's suggestion that economic regeneration should be as significant a factor in scheduling/listing as archaeology etc seems to me to potentially place a firework up the rectum of this particular hedgehog legislation. So some official gets to decide that the designation 'regeneration' (officalese for effectively the self-interest of a few hard-up property speculators) is of greater 'good' than any form of cultural, archaeological or historic interest.
We may as well all volunteer to become hedgehogs!!
However, there is a story bubbling under here and the MP for Stockport's suggestion that economic regeneration should be as significant a factor in scheduling/listing as archaeology etc seems to me to potentially place a firework up the rectum of this particular hedgehog legislation. So some official gets to decide that the designation 'regeneration' (officalese for effectively the self-interest of a few hard-up property speculators) is of greater 'good' than any form of cultural, archaeological or historic interest.
We may as well all volunteer to become hedgehogs!!