Time Team expert says new planning review must protect archaeology

Time Team Anglo-Saxon expert Helen Geake has called on the government to put archaeology at the centre of its new review of planning legislation.

Archaeologists fear a new planning bill might fast-track developments, leaving little time to dig sites.

Ms Geake welcomed a decision on Thursday by housing secretary Michael Gove to pause the bill and review it.

The government said it was determined to protect archaeology and build on the protections already in place.

The Planning Bill, which was confirmed in the Queen's Speech in May, had been championed by the previous housing secretary Robert Jenrick.

Ms Geake, who lives in Woolpit, Suffolk, and was involved in the Channel 4 series for more than 10 years, said there was concern a push to earmark areas for development could lose archaeological evidence.

"If you have areas for growth and renewal with automatic planning permission then there is no chance to insert conditions for archaeological assessments," said Ms Geake, a Green Party councillor.

"If you can't put in archaeological conditions, we could lose so much archaeology."

Stephen Macaulay, deputy regional manager with Oxford Archaeology East, said he has been working well in partnership both with developer Endurance Estates and the local council on archaeological digs as new homes and a school are built on the edge of Ely in Cambridgeshire.

"We have found the remains of an Iron Age village and a few years ago an Anglo-Saxon cemetery was found at another part of the estate," he said.

Mr Macaulay added that archaeology employs local people and business and supports tourism.

"People don't come here for the weather, they come for the history and the heritage," he said.

Norfolk developer Andrew Livsey said he has worked well with archaeologists on projects across the east of England and believes the present rules work well.

"I think they have got it about right. I don't see any big issues," he said.

"You know if you have got a project, you have to get it sorted with the archaeologists. My relationship with them has always been good.

"It's all part of our history. You have got to be sensible about it."

A ministry of housing, communities and local government spokeswoman said: "We know that our archaeological treasures are irreplaceable and we are determined to protect them."

Politics East airs on BBC One in the East on Sunday 19 September at 10:00 BST and can be viewed on the BBC iPlayer afterwards.

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