Oppose Scrapping Archaeology in Cambridge Fens

[Tarbicus]

This is a worrying trend. Do consider signing the petition to stop Fenland District Council from allowing to developers to dig up wherever they want, and the scrapping of the requirement to excavate archaeological sites.

Oppose Plans to Scrap Archaeology in the Cambridgeshire Fens

Cllr Alan Melton, Leader of Fenland Council, Cambridgeshire, recently announced that from July 1st 2011, developers would no longer be required to observe the archaeological and heritage requirements of planning conditions. He went on to say,

"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.

”Relaxation of rules around sustainability and listed buildings still meant retaining a sustainable and practical approach.

“But we won’t dwell too much on the scriptures of the new religion,” said Mr Melton.

“I don’t believe the Polar Bears will be floating down the Nene in my life time or indeed my children’s.”

Mr Melton described communities who resist growth as Nimbys and said the council’s message was: “No growth equals no investment”.

(as reported at www.edp24.co.uk/news/development_rules_relaxed_in_the_fens_but_the_bunny_huggers_won_t_like_it_warns_council_leader_1_929730; 25/06/2011)

Online votes on both the www.edp24.co.uk and the www.cambstimes.co.uk websites have indicated upwards of 90% opposition to the move highlighted in Cllr Melton's statement.

Cllr Melton's views have been met with dismay and anger by heritage professionals, individuals and groups with an interest in heritage, archaeology and the environment. The Fens is home to nationally important archaeology and a delicately balanced natural environment. If you disagree with Cllr Melton's comments and oppose the relaxation of rules governing development control in the Cambridgeshire Fens, please sign this petition.

More at the Guardian.

The principle that developers must pay for archaeological excavation – before construction work destroys sites – has led to a string of major discoveries in the past 20 years, including the "Prince of Prittlewell" (a royal Saxon grave on the outskirts of Southend), a pit full of decapitated skeletons that may have been victims of a Viking massacre in Dorset, the first purpose-built Tudor theatre in London, and a 5,000-year-old enclosure under Heathrow's Terminal 5.

Archaeologists now fear that the threat to give developers free rein in East Anglia's Fenland – known for the spectacular preservation of waterlogged prehistoric and later sites – may be part of a wider national trend, particularly at a time when many local authorities are losing their conservation officers and archaeologists.

Dr Tony Pollard, director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, reflected the anxieties of many: "My worry as someone far away from the Fens – though I fully appreciate their archaeological importance – is that this could mark the thin end of the wedge, with the recession being used as an excuse to trash our national archaeological heritage in the name of economic recovery."

Melton, who delivered his speech last week in Wisbech, said: "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."