§ Mr. Weetchasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many ancient monuments in England, for which consent to develop or destroy has been issued, have been archaeologically excavated; and in how many cases total excavation took place;
(2) in how many cases, by region of England, there was a public local inquiry or a specific hearing before a person appointed by his Department in order to determine applications relating to scheduled monument consents;
(3) how many scheduled monument consents have been issued since the implementation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 in the appropriate regions of England;
(4) how many applications, by region of England, there have been from developers and archaeologists, respectively, in relation to scheduled monument consents, since the implementation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979;
(5) how many scheduled monument consents, by region of England, given since the coming into operation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, were unconditional; and how many made prior archaeological excavation a condition of consent;
(6) how many cases, by region of England, publicity was given, and in what form, relating to applications received for scheduled monument consents, since the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 become operational.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneSuch information as is available on scheduled monument consents, relating to the period from 9 October 1981 to 31 August 1984 inclusive, is given in the table below: 483W
Ancient monument region of England No of hearings or inquiries Scheduled Monument consents issued Applications with archaeological nature Unconditional scheduled monument consents issued East Anglia 1 149 19 55 London & South East 2 305 41 94 Midlands 1 164 25 77 North 0 83 13 44 South West 1 174 27 69 Yorks & Lanes 0 103 11 63 Total 5 978 136 402 While a number of applications relating to archaeological excavations or surveys is given, it is not possible in the balance of applications to distinguish between developers and owners requiring consent for minor works or modifications. Detailed information about the number of consents issued conditional to a prior excavation, or about the number of applications which have been publicised, is not available. In general terms, however, it is comparatively unusual to impose a prior excavation condition, and there has been only one such case in the last 6 months. It is equally unusual to publicise applications, except where a local inquiry is to be held, when the arrangements are invariably advertised.
§ Mr. Weetchasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what specific sums of money, and what proportion of the total finance, in connection with archaeological excavations of ancient monuments in England, was provided by his Department and local authorities, respectively, over the most recent convenient period.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneIn the financial year ending 31 March 1984, my Department spent £5.1 million on work in connection with archaeological excavations in England. That expenditure includes grant aid given to local authority archaeological units and the direct costs of the Department's own central excavations unit. There is no central record of how much local authorities contributed to archaeological excavations.
§ Mr. Weetchasked the Secretary of State for the Environment in how many cases, as envisaged by part II of the 1979 Act, investigating authorities were consulted in England in connection with applications for scheduled monument consents since that Act became operational.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneNone. Part II of the 1979 Act relates to rescue archaeology in designated areas of archaeological importance and not to the protection of scheduled monuments. An investigating authority appointed for a particular area of archaeological importance has the opportunity to carry out archaeological investigations before works take place within the designated area; but the Act does not require that they be consulted about applications for scheduled monument consent made under part I of the Act.
§ Mr. Weetchasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many sites in England have been scheduled as ancient monuments since the implementation of the 1979 Act; and how many such sites have been descheduled.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneBy 31 August 1984, 186 sites in England had been scheduled as ancient monuments since484W the implementation of the 1979 Act. Fifty-one scheduled sites had been extended and 17 sites had been descheduled within the same period.