Cash for Access & Archaeology: Why Does it Matter?

Over the weekend, former Conservative Party fund raiser Peter Cruddas was forced to resign following a sting operation by the Sunday Times. He was recorded stating that for £250,000, it is possible to gain 'Premier League' access to the Prime Minister, to dine with him in his residence and to have policy suggestions fed to the Conservative Policy Planning Committee.

Why does this matter?

Well, in the coming days, the Government is set to announce the new Planning Policy framework. This is a crucial piece of legislation affecting the way Archaeologists work. Since 1990, a framework of Planning Policy Guidance has existed in the UK. It was produced by the UK Government to advise local planning authorities in England and Wales on the treatment of archaeology within the planning process. This followed a controversial development in the heart of London which threatened to destroy the well preserved remains of Shakespeare's famous Rose Theatre, it was a crucial form of intervention which set out a legal process through which the goals of the developer and the requirements of the archaeologist could be balanced and met.

In recent years, a review of this legislation has been in the pipeline, started under the previous Government, it sought to re-assess the effectiveness of the PPG and modify the legislation where necessary. Archaeologists have been anxiously awaiting the results of this review as it will have a direct effect upon how much archaeology survives and the thresholds by which the importance of a potential site is gauged.

The weekend's revelations have thrown this legislation into, at best, a tumultuous position as it has been alleged that the Prime Minister's ear (and thus possible policy change) has been for sale! This is particularly alarming when one considers that the two largest donors to the Coservative Party since May 2010 have certainly had a vested interest in the outcome of the new Planning Policy legislation:

• Mark J C Bamford and JCB Research- Suppliers of Construction Equipment: £1.5 million.

• David Rowland- Property and Finance: £1.2 million.

(Figures from the Sunday Times 25-03-2012, Includes donations to the No2AV Campaign).

At best, this throws the outcome of the Planning Policy review into a questionable light and at worst it implies that the results of the review may have been a drawn conclusion from the beginning. This comes in the context of various high profile Tory Ministers and Council leaders hinting that Planning Policy needs to be relaxed to make life easier for developers.

At Archaeosoup Towers, we support the Mortimer Campaign's call for the Policy to be withdrawn pending a full review of how it has been drafted. Click here to join Mortimer's Facebook Page, here to visit their website and here to read their Press Release on this important issue.

Archaeosoup.