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Consultation responses: Draft Marine Bill (Defra 2008) |
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Submission from ALGAO:UK Maritime Committee Marine Bill
Team
ALGAO:UK (Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers: UK) represents the senior archaeological advisors in local authorities within England, Scotland and Wales. The association operates through national associations and through a number of theme specific committees. The ALGAO:UK Maritime Committee is one such committee and is charged with considering maritime issues on behalf of the association. The ALGAO:UK Maritime Committee welcomes the production of the draft Marine Bill. There is a great need to provide clear, transparent and interlinked policies and procedures in respect of the marine environment and the draft bill is a first step in this direction. The proposed Marine Management Organisation is particularly welcomed as are the proposals for Coastal Access. There remain however serious issues in relation to marine cultural heritage which are neither addressed by this bill nor the marine element of the draft Heritage Protection Bill. The marine element of the draft Heritage Protection Bill provides for the protection of those few parts of the marine cultural heritage which are defined as being of national importance. It does not however address the issue of how the vast number of marine cultural heritage sites which are not of national importance will be protected. In the terrestrial sphere, this type of site is protected through the planning system and through the advice provided to local planning authorities by local government archaeological officers and Conservation Officers. This advice is in turn is based on the Historic Environment Records (HERs) also held at local authority level. This system ensures that historic and archaeological sites of local and regional importance are properly considered along with those of national importance. It was hoped that the combination of the proposed Heritage Protection and Marine Bills would put similarly comprehensive systems in place. This does not however seem to have been achieved. While 'historic and archaeological interest' is contained within the broad definition of 'environmental' concerns. No guidance is provided as to the weight which should be given to sites which are not of national importance. There is similarly no clarity as to who will compile records of marine cultural heritage sites not deemed of national importance and who will provide advice to the MMO in regard to these sites. These issues reflect the lack of weight given to the marine cultural heritage throughout the bill. A further instance of this is the definition of what should comprise a Marine Conservation Zone. This concept is welcome, it does however seem perverse not to extend the concept to include sites of historic and archaeological importance. This concept would be particularly useful in providing an element of protection to groupings of marine cultural heritage sites which individually might not qualify as being of national importance but which as a group would be worthy of preservation. This is of course exactly how the Conservation Area concept works in terrestrial planning systems. It is perhaps instructive to compare the experience of this bill to that of the development of the Scottish Marine Bill; in the case of the latter an active dialogue is taking place with local authorities as to how they can play an pivotal role in developing local interaction with the marine heritage and developing a comprehensive and locally responsive regime. This has not been the experience in England and Wales. Coastal
Access An additional concern is in relation to the concept of 'spreading room' and the activities which might take place within this zone. The spreading zone encompasses the area from the footpath to the water's edge and inland from the footpath to a recognisable boundary. It has long been the practice for people to use metal detectors on the beach, without consideration of the legality of this and most would not wish to prevent this. There may however be a danger that it will be presumed that metal detectors may be used within the whole of the spreading zone and this could provide a threat to archaeological sites. There should therefore be some consideration as to the range of activities which might be allowed within the spreading zone in order that traditional beach activities are not extended into this area. R Daniels Chair ALGAO:UK Maritime Committee |
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