§ Mr. Fauldsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he will be taking to encourage local authorities to put forward proposals designating archaeological areas, subject to his approval.
§ Mr. MonroA letter will go to each of the local authority associations nearer the implementation date of part II of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 to inform them of the Department's criteria for designation and of the procedures to be followed by local authorities when putting forward possible areas for designation.
§ Mr. Fauldsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many archaeological areas he expects to designate each year under the restraints of the present public expenditure cuts.
§ Mr. MonroDesignations under part II of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 will be limited to a few areas of the highest archaeological significance under threat from development, where it appears unlikely that co-operation from developers to enable archaeological access or excavation would otherwise be forthcoming. Under present financial circumstances there can be no substantial increase in the resources for rescue archaeology but the provisions of part II should help to allocate the existing resources more efficiently.