Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Bone kickers in Tonbridge?...
There seems to be a team of archaeologists digging around the foundations of the old council offices reception, which has been recently demolished; presumably no one has been able to dig there for well over a hundred years so they could make some interesting discoveries. Two questions. Have they found anything yet? Secondly: why does the council need to spend our money on a new reception area when the old one was just fine? TonbridgeBlog will try to keep you updated....
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It part of the Planning permission stipulation now. Any property in the conservation area of Tonbridge whether residential or not will have to employ an archaeologist. I live in this part of Tonbridge and part of the granting of my planning application was to have an archaeologists search when the foundations were dug for a very small conservatory. That cost ME not the council £1500 for a 15 minute visit and for a report to be written. It's big business now for the archaeologists and they earn good money from it. I can understand perfectly that we need to map our historical past and it is vital - BUT - maybe the council could employ their own team archaeologists as they are the instigators of the mapping and not pass it on to us residents. It was money I couldn't afford and I believe it is totally unfair and opportunistic. No doubt the team will do a wonderfully long drawn out dig and search and clock up those £'s
Did they find anything TonbridgeR after all spending all that?
And when are we Tonbridge people doing to have a museum so we can see the fruits of their labour?
£1500 for a 15 min visit? I wouldn't have bothered with the conservatory with that rip off price. Scandalous.
£1500 for a 15 min visit? I wouldn't have bothered with the conservatory with that rip off price. Scandalous.
Yes, they could have spent it on a lot more traffic wardens
I'm just talking about the new Reception area by the way
The council does not need to spend our money on a new reception area they are doing it because they can and there is nobody to stop them.
Whatever will these silly bureaucrats dream up next? and where's it all going to end? Will we have to call in a team of archaeologists next time we dig over the vegetable patch?
That was a typing error - sorry - it was £1100. Still ridiculous. The charges were for an archaeologist's services for 1/2 a day, to include travelling time, travelling expenses, full written report and BINDING and administration costs. The archaeologist arrived, looked at the foundations, scribbled a few notes amd off he went.
So those of you who are living in the conservation area bear this in mind if seeking planning permission which includes digging new foundations. You could be stung too.
They found nothing of great importance Petrolstationvillage - a little evidence of iron but that's pretty normal around this part of the town. Maybe if they had found something significant I would have a marquee and a dig still going on in my small town garden and not my conservatory. Silly isn't it
Tonbridge R. Thanks for the warning.
Those archaeologists ought to be 'on BBC Watchdog' or something.
I dont think we should all get too worked up about the archaeologists because there's still the fact that the ground has been covered for a long time and there may be something....
I'm sorry to hear that what should have been a mutually beneficial bit of work ending up costing so much. The idea is a good one. The idea of a check for archaeological remains before works begin is designed to stop the destruction caused by so many new estates in the 50s and 60s and money mad house builders in the 80s who didn't want to halt building for anything.
The idea was for local councils to have archaeologists, but most have got rid of these to save money and contracted the work out. With so many people wanting to work in archaeology, it's a shame more of the work can't be done by volunteers or students to save everyone money and give young people valuable experience.
I agree Matt Harvey. Mapping the historical past of Tonbridge is valuable and new foundations give an opportunity for this to take place. The idea is good but it needs to be reconsidered. I am not Crest Homes or Bovis but a simple ordinary resident who became a victim of the 'good idea'. I would have been willing for an archaeologist to have come and had a look but not paid for it. It is oportunistic and unfair. But will it be reconsidered????? - of course not. They have us 'over a barrel' and it isn't up for discussion.
They do indded have us 'over a barrel'.
They get to decide if we can build anything or not and , it seems , charge how much they like.
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