Time Team Special 18 (2005) - The King of Bling (Southend, Essex)
Posted on 06/30/2011 3:43:20 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Archaeologists have condemned a Tory council leader's threat to dismantle all archaeological controls on development, saying that the regulations are necessary to protect the UK's unique national heritage.
Alan Melton, leader of Fenland District Council, dismissed opponents of development as "bunny huggers" in a speech last week. Archaeologists fear his views reflect a national threat to all heritage protection as a result of the government's determination to simplify the planning process to encourage development.
The principle that developers must pay for archaeological excavation -- before construction work destroys sites -- has led to a string of major discoveries in the past 20 years, including the "Prince of Prittlewell" (a royal Saxon grave on the outskirts of Southend), a pit full of decapitated skeletons that may have been victims of a Viking massacre in Dorset, the first purpose-built Tudor theatre in London, and a 5,000-year-old enclosure under Heathrow's Terminal 5...
Dr Tony Pollard, director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, reflected the anxieties of many: "My worry as someone far away from the Fens -- though I fully appreciate their archaeological importance -- is that this could mark the thin end of the wedge, with the recession being used as an excuse to trash our national archaeological heritage in the name of economic recovery."
...Melton emailed Conservative party colleagues to say: "I don't tweet, but what a wonderful day. To be attacked by bunny huggers, historic lefties, and the vested interested professional classes. Eric Pickles will be extremely proud of me."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
By whom??? Developers and builders do what they do -- develop and build. Much of it with borrowed money and as long as money is available they will likely continue to do what they do. Otherwise, put the business on life support and send everybody home. I submit that MANY, maybe MOST business owners/CEOs feel some obligation to keep their people working. And generally, I think it's likely the smaller operations have a greater sense of "family"; hence, feel an even greater sense of obligation to their people.
JMHO, but Jug Ears would like nothing better than to shut down small business altogether. Small business is what drives our capitalist/free market system and it's almost a certainty Jug Ears is no friend of capitalism; at least as we know it. It's a lot easier controlling a handful of mega corporations than millions of small business men.
OOPS! That was sortof a train derailment...
In any case, overbuilding is not necessarily a bad thing. In the short term it puts some stresses on companies and the lenders who financed the ventures, not to mention property values in the immediate area BUT, it also creates downward pressure on housing prices and commercial office space expense. "If you build it they will come" is true more often than not IMHO. At least that was the HOPE of Fannie and Freddie with the CHANGE in the CRA. No one can meddle like government can meddle. ;^)
Ahem, so, IF discoveries of ancient artifacts(most often exposed by -- excavations by developers and builders) are so important as to be worthy of salvaging, have the bunny/tree/whale/farting darter/skinky lizard/bone hugging crowd arrange compensation. Keep the gummint, ESPECIALLY the feral gummint out of it.
Original broadcast date: 13th June 2005. Time Team turn their attention to an important Royal Saxon tomb in Prittlewell, near Southend in Essex. During a routine road widening in late 2003, an impressive array of Saxon objects were uncovered, leading to an excavation by MOLA. Further excitement centred around the discovery of an intact wood-lined burial chamber, and its precious high-status contents were comparable to similar regional discoveries in Broomfield, Taplow, and Sutton Hoo. In this Classic Time Team Special from 2005, Tony Robinson is joined by Mick Aston, Helen Geake and Sam Newton to investigate further.Time Team Special: King of Bling
Classic Special (Full Episode) - 2005 (Prittlewell, Essex) | 50:37
Time Team Official | 322K subscribers | 1,149,724 views | Premiered September 9, 2023
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