Meeting documents

Report of the County Archaeological Officer

The Forum received the report of the County Archaeological Officer on the work of the County Archaeological Service since the last meeting of the Forum.

The Officer highlighted resource problems being experienced by the Service resulting from the County’s Medium Term Planning Process, which could result in the Service having to charge District Councils for services currently provided free of charge.

The Officer made reference to the second meeting of the Steering Group to support the Buckinghamshire Historic Towns Project which would take place on 8 October – members were warmly invited to attend.

The Officer advised that the Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past project was nearing completion. The final stage would be to write a formal report to Heritage Lottery. The Officer requested that members advise him of any missing links to other sites or Information that could be included on the project website.

The Officer had raised concerns in his report about the Wycombe Local Development Framework which did not include advice from the Archaeology Service on protecting the historic environment. He was obtaining further advice about how to take this matter forward. The Officer stated that, from a heritage point of view, a better response had been received to the Aylesbury Vale Core Strategy and Aylesbury Allocated Sites (preferred options) as the selection of preferred directions for growth had largely avoided the most sensitive areas around each town.

Regarding both these items, members commented on the need for a general policy statement on the historic environment that could be used when considering planning matters, that was pertinent to all the Districts. It was agreed that this matter should be pursued via the Chairman who would seek an agenda item on the Pathfinder Group agenda.

The Officer showed slides of some of the key areas of work that the Archaeological Service was undertaking. A particular area of interest was the site of the Royal Ordnance Factory at Westcott, which had been used for research into rocket production. The Officer advised that the site included a number of very unusual structures that might be worthy of scheduling and provided a unique insight into rocketry in the UK. A member stressed the importance of using history recording for the site, commenting on the need to obtain information from people who had previously worked there who might still live in the local area.

A member referred to the Bronze Age and Saxon Medieval Settlement at Bierton Church Farm. As the contractor had gone bankrupt and the developer was unwilling to take responsibility, it seemed very unlikely that the project would be published. Members discussed how this matter could be taken forward, including the possibility of commissioning someone to take on the work. However, costs for this were likely to be well above 15k and it was unclear how this money could be found. One suggestion was the Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society might wish to see if they could contribute funding for the work. The County Archaeological Officer added that enforcement processes for cases such as these had been strengthened.

RESOLVED

The Forum NOTED:

a    The resource issues raised by the County Council’s Medium Term Plan

b)                 The Service’s Performance Indicators and contribution to national indicators BV205 and 209

c)                 Progress with strategic projects

d)                 Historic environment issues related to the Aylesbury and Wycombe Local Development Frameworks

e)                 Recent archaeological fieldwork

f)                   Progress in securing publication of archaeological reports.