Contact:
  • Archaeology
  • Address:
    Planning Services,Trimbridge House, Trim Street, Bath, BA1 2DP
  • E-mail:
    archaeology@bathnes.gov.uk
  • Telephone:
    01225-477651
  • Fax:
    01225-477641
  • Minicom:
    01225-477535
  • Page Updated:
    14/09/2007
  • Author:
    Abigail Harrap
A to Z Index

Archaeology in Bath & North East Somerset:

Supplementary Planning Guidance, page 8 of 10

4.0 Planning Conditions

4.1    Engineering solutions

Once engineering solutions have been agreed in principle the Local Planning Authority may be content to secure further approved details through the imposition of planning conditions.  The following condition, sometimes referred to as The Westminster Condition may be used:

“No development shall commence (including any site clearance or demolition works) until detailed drawings of all underground works, including foundations, drainage and those of statutory undertakers, have been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the Local Planning Authority. Such details shall include the location, extent and depth of all excavations and these works shall be carried out and completed in accordance with details as approved.”

4.2    The reason for this condition is to satisfy the Local Planning Authority that pre-approval discussions and agreements can be secured post-determination.  In some cases this may not be appropriate and the Local Planning Authority may insist on detailed drawings and proposals to be provided as part of the application and approved as part of the overall scheme.

4.3    Preservation by record

In most cases preservation by record will be secured through the use of planning conditions and the following conditions are in common usage in Bath and North East Somerset:

4.4    The following condition is used to secure most forms of archaeological work from very complex full excavations to a simple watching brief.

“No development shall take place within the application site until a programme of archaeological work has been undertaken in accordance with a detailed written scheme of investigation which has previously been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority.”

4.5    The following condition is used to secure the recording of standing buildings from full survey and descriptions of a whole building to a small photographic record of minor internal modifications.

 “No development or demolition shall take place within the application site until a programme of archaeological work to record those parts of the building (s) which are to be demolished, disturbed or concealed by the proposed development has been undertaken in accordance with a detailed written scheme of investigation which has been submitted by the applicant and approved in writing by the local planning authority.”

4.6    Other, more specific conditions will be used where appropriate for particular forms of archaeological work such as field walking and evaluation as part of a suite of archaeological conditions.  In some cases conditions may refer to specific parts of a site or particular drawings and method statements.  In these instances the wording will be more specific.

4.7    Discharge of conditions involving archaeology

Archaeological investigations are not finished until the various specialists have carried out their studies and the results are prepared for publication.  PPG13 states that “…planning authorities will… need to satisfy themselves that the developer has made appropriate and satisfactory arrangements for the excavation and recording of the archaeological remains and the publication of the results.” (Para 28).  Until then the preservation of the record is not complete and access to the results is not possible.  Post-excavation work is an important part of an approved mitigation agreed in response to a planning condition.  It is therefore not appropriate to discharge the archaeology condition until agreement has been secured to ensure that the post-excavation work is completed.

5.0 Legal agreements

5.1    In complex cases, particularly those  involving the preservation of archaeological remains within a development and those that involve large scale excavation the Local Planning Authority may decide to secure archaeological mitigation through the use of a legal agreement under Section 103 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991.  These legal agreements will usually contain a number of triggers relating to each phase of development involved with archaeology and each phase of archaeological work.  For instance, one trigger may relate to the completion of all archaeological field work prior to the excavation of services to a site or the construction of the access road.