Gloucester Council next....

[P Prentice]

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as bajr himself implodes in frustration i think it opportune to consider PPS5 in this context:-

The Government’s overarching aim is that the historic environment and its heritage
assets should be conserved and enjoyed for the quality of life they bring to this and
future generations. To achieve this, the Government’s objectives for planning for the
historic environment are:
• to deliver sustainable development by ensuring that policies and decisions
concerning the historic environment:
–– recognise that heritage assets are a non-renewable resource
–– take account of the wider social, cultural, economic and environmental
benefits of heritage conservation; and
–– recognise that intelligently managed change may sometimes be necessary if
heritage assets are to be maintained for the long term.
• to conserve England’s heritage assets in a manner appropriate to their
significance by ensuring that:
–– decisions are based on the nature, extent and level of that significance,
investigated to a degree proportionate to the importance of the heritage asset
–– wherever possible, heritage assets are put to an appropriate and viable use
that is consistent with their conservation
–– the positive contribution of such heritage assets to local character and sense
of place is recognised and valued; and
–– consideration of the historic environment is integrated into planning policies,
promoting place-shaping.
• to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of our past by ensuring that
opportunities are taken to capture evidence from the historic environment and

to make this publicly available, particularly where a heritage asset is to be lost.

all these points should generate work for professional archaeologists but i would draw your attention to the last sentence and submit that as a profession we have spectacularly failed to keep the public informed of what we do and why it is worth doing it
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