Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED

Members of the forum voted to confirm Councillor B Chapple OBE as Chairman for the ensuing year.

Members heard apologies from the following:

·       Councillor Thomas Hogg

·       Councillor Clive Harriss

·       Briony Hudson (Amersham Museum)

·       Charles Pugh (National Trust)

·       Michael Woods (Buckinghamshire Conservation Trust)

·       Wendy Morrison (Conservation Board for the Chilterns AONB)

There were none.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 9^th March 2023 be agreed as a correct record.

To be presented by Joanna Horton and Eliza Alqassar.

Joanna Horton (Heritage & Archaeology Team Leader) and Eliza Alqassar (Historic & Built Environment Manager) gave a presentation to the forum detailing the efforts that have been undertaken to ensure that listed buildings were adapted to cope with new energy efficiency measures and flood defences, and how archaeological sites were being impacted by tree planting projects and solar farm installations. The slides would be appended to the minutes of the meeting. The following key points were raised in their presentation:

Solar Farms

The traditional installation methods for solar farms (involving grounding panels by driving poles into the ground, and running underground cables to carry electricity) created various opportunities to disrupt and damage sites of potential archaeological interest. The Heritage and Archaeology team recommended t geophysical surveys at solar farm sites, followed by targeted trenching to identify the location of buried archaeological remains.

This had been undertaken at the Fox Covert Solar Farm near Adstock and Great Horwood, following the granting of planning permission in June 2021, where a geophysical survey and subsequent trenching found Iron Age roundhouses on site. The identified area was then removed from the solar farm scheme in order to preserve it.

Alternative solar farm installation methods mitigate the risk of damage to archaeological sites. These include grounding solar panels with concrete slabs and weights as opposed to driving poles into the ground and suspending the electric cables underneath the panels as opposed to running them underground.

Tree Planting

Buckinghamshire Council had committed to planting 543,000 trees by 2025. Much of this planting would take place in rural areas where the archaeological potential was less well known, including on some sites featuring medieval ridge and furrow.

One such site included an area designated for planting as part of the Wing Woods project, where archaeological features were identified. Those areas were removed from the tree planting scheme, with a ten-metre planting buffer zone around the archaeological remains in a manner that was suitable for both the planting project team and the heritage team. The remains would be left preserved in situ.

Built Heritage

The presentation also highlighted examples of listed buildings which had undergone retrofitting to ensure their resilience in the face of new natural threats related to climate change, such as flooding. This included The Queens Head in Chesham, which had had flood defences installed, as well as air source heat pumps.

The presentation also demonstrated how solar panels had been installed on a hidden area of the roof of a listed building in Brill, which allowed for easy maintenance without risk of damage to the building’s original fabric, thus protecting the fabric and character of the building. It was suggested that crown roofs were best suited to this.

It was explained that high profile cases of this retrofitting, often on well-known historic and listed buildings, acted as the catalyst for the wider effort elsewhere, as the public became aware of it. One such example being the installation of solar panels across the roof of Kings College Chapel in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

·       Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society

·       Conservation Board for the Chilterns AONB

·       Buckinghamshire Conservation Trust

·       Archaeological Officer – Buckinghamshire

·       Archaeological Officer – Milton Keynes

·       Heritage Officer- Buckinghamshire

·       Heritage Officer- Milton Keynes

·       Historic England

·       National Trust

·       Milton Keynes Heritage Association

·       Museums

·       Oxford Diocesan Advisory Committee

The forum received verbal updates from external partners on their ongoing work. The following partners updated the forum:

Phil Markham - Senior Archaeology Officer (Buckinghamshire Council)

Phil drew attention to the report circulated with the agenda pack which gave a detailed summary of the work his team were undertaking. And summarised the following key points:

Much of the fieldwork in relation to HS2/Fusion sites had been completed, with a number of sites continuing to be monitored during the construction phase.?

The excavations at the site of the South-East Aylesbury link Road developments had now been underway for over a year, with the first phase due to be completed soon. Evidence of a Roman settlement had been found there.

A further phase of evaluation had been completed at the Hampden Fields development between Aylesbury and Weston Turville. Locations for excavation work had been identified, and this was likely to begin during the autumn.

A cache of 3 eggs was discovered in association with a basket, pottery vessels, coins, leather shoes and animal bone at the Berryfields excavation site a number of years ago, all dating to approximately the 3^rd Century AD. One of the eggs was intact and scans confirmed that there was liquid still inside. The egg is currently at the British Museum.

Nick Crank - Archaeological Officer (Milton Keynes City Council)

Nick directed attention towards the update document circulated earlier with the agenda pack and reported the following:

A third phase of excavations was underway at the MK East Strategic Urban Extension. Findings were in keeping with expectations following earlier geophysical surveys, with a key find being evidence of a late Iron Age to Roman settlement complex to the east of the A509 Newport Road.

Following examinations of the roof structure at the Grade II listed Old Bakehouse, High Street, North Crawley, it emerged that it was likely that the house had been of open hall layout, and possibly built much earlier than the 17^th Century, as had previously been thought. It was possible that the listing of the building would be revised in the wake of this discovery.

A late Roman building had been uncovered following excavation works by Oxford Archaeology at the Warrington Road site to the north of Olney. The site also included a large mosaic, which will be left in situ, and the planning permission will include a condition for its preservation.

Milton Keynes Archaeology Day would take place at the Central Library on Saturday 4^th November. There would be talks related to ongoing excavation works as well as information stands, displays and activities.

Simon Peart - Conservation and Archaeology Team (Milton Keynes City Council)

Several schemes were being developed and implemented to retain and repurpose old buildings in central Milton Keynes as a means to mitigate the embodied carbon emissions caused by the development of new buildings.

Simon gave details on a few examples including Station House, and Saxon Court. It was explained that schemes such as these normally involved conversion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

16^th April 2024

It was noted that the date of the next meeting would be 16^th April 2024. A venue for the meeting would be communicated in due course.