Given that you can’t seem to put up a new building in the UK without hitting an old site, the Tory is right. The developer has to be able to decide if he wants the site investigated, or the archaeologists need to compensate the developer for the disruption of his project.
What you said! The problem(?) of course is that the cause-du-jour crowd felt it necessary to get government involved in their bunny/tree/whale/farting darter/skinky lizard/bone hugging. NOBODY can meddle like government can meddle. Governments nowadays are more than happy to oblige. LOTS of free lunches from the bunny/tree/whale/farting darter/skinky lizard/bone hugging crowd. Not to mention the potential for some shake downs of developers/producers. MORE free lunches and donations to other worthy causes; like reelection campaigns, etc.
The solution??? Have the bunny/tree/whale/farting darter/skinky lizard/bone hugging crowd put their money where their mouth is. Once they have some skin in the game it might be amazing how quickly they are able to determine if a site has any true historical value; or if it's just an old pile of bones.
In any case, I can't see where government has any business poking their nose into something they know little about. But then, that's what government does...