3rd January 2012, 07:31 PM
I know it doesn't apply in England, but in Scotland the recently-published PAN 2/2011 is fairly good on this. Paragraphs 10, 11 and 12 are quite clear that an SMR or HER should be maintained and curated by a suitably-qualified professional archaeologist, as follows:
It's only a guidance document, but there's one Scottish council whose HER has for the last couple of years been maintained by a planning assistant with no archaeological background, so it will be interesting to see how they'll respond to any challenge that they're not acting in accordance with policy. While the PAN still stops short of making SMRs / HERs statutory, it certainly seems to be a step in the right direction towards making it more difficult for councils to claim they're dealing with archaeology correctly if their HER is maintained by the work experience person.
Quote:10. It is essential that every planning authority has access to a Sites and Monuments Record ( SMR) / Historic Environment Record ( HER) (a record of all known sites), curated by a professional archaeologist on behalf of the local authority or a dedicated heritage body.
11. Information held within SMRs / HERs represents an indispensable tool for the formulation of development plans and the determination of planning applications. More generally, the creation and analysis of a SMR / HER is an important first stage in the positive management and preservation of the historic environment for the purposes of education and recreation, and as an input to local history, conservation and tourism projects.
12. An effective SMR / HER will be regularly maintained and updated and easily accessible to the public. It requires 4 main features to be effective:
professionally competent curatorship and analysis;
a list and description of all known monuments and archaeological sites and finds within the geographic area, to support accurate assessment of their importance;
a map record (commonly at a scale of 1:10,000) or digital application which identifies the location and extent (where known) of each monument, site and find-spot; and
detailed additional supporting information for specific sites, such as photographs, survey and excavation reports and references to relevant published and unpublished sources, plus links or cross-references to other sources of information, such as the lists of statutorily designated historic environment assets created and maintained by Historic Scotland and the national inventory of sites and monuments held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland ( RCAHMS).
It's only a guidance document, but there's one Scottish council whose HER has for the last couple of years been maintained by a planning assistant with no archaeological background, so it will be interesting to see how they'll respond to any challenge that they're not acting in accordance with policy. While the PAN still stops short of making SMRs / HERs statutory, it certainly seems to be a step in the right direction towards making it more difficult for councils to claim they're dealing with archaeology correctly if their HER is maintained by the work experience person.
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum