Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers - annual report to LGA Board 2023

• Lead Officer: Ian Leete
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: Cambridgeshire County Council, SAC1301 Sackville House, Sackville Way, Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, CB23 6HL
• Telephone: 07717 426713
• Website: Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers

• Bedford Borough Council
• Birmingham City Council
• Boston Borough Council
• Buckinghamshire Council
• Cambridgeshire County Council
• Central Bedfordshire
• Cheshire (Cheshire West and Chester/Cheshire East)
• Chichester District Council
• City of Coventry
• City of London
• City of York Council
• Colchester Borough Council
• Cornwall Council
• Cumbria County Council
• Dartmoor National Park
• Derbyshire County Council
• Devon County Council
• Dorset Council
• Dudley M.B.C.
• Durham County Council
• East Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham unitary authorities)
• East Sussex County Council
• Essex County Council
• Exeter City Council
• Exmoor National Park
• Gloucester City
• Gloucestershire County Council
• Greater London Archaeological Advisory Service (all London boroughs except Southwark)
• Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service (all Manchester boroughs)
• Hampshire County Council
• Hartlepool Borough Council (Tees Archaeology)
• Herefordshire Council
• Hertfordshire County Council
• Humber Archaeology Partnership (Kingston upon Hull and East Riding councils)
• Isle of Wight Council
• Kent County Council
• Lake District National Park Authority
• Lancashire County Council
• Leicester City
• Leicestershire County Council
• Lincolnshire County Council
• Milton Keynes Council
• New Forest National Park
• Newcastle City Council and Tyne & Wear
• Norfolk County Council
• North Kesteven District Council
• North Lincolnshire Council
• North Somerset Council
• North York Moors National Park
• North Yorkshire Council
• Northamptonshire County Council (two authorities from 1/4/21)
• Northumberland County Council
• Northumberland National Park
• Nottingham City Council
• Nottinghamshire County Council
• Oxford City Council
• Oxfordshire County Council
• Peak District National Park
• Peterborough City Council
• Plymouth City Council
• Shropshire Council
• South Gloucestershire Council
• South Kesteven District Council
• South West Heritage Trust
• South Yorkshire Archaeology Service
• Southampton City Council
• Southend Borough Council
• Southwark Council
• Staffordshire County Council
• Stoke on Trent City Council
• Suffolk County Council
• Surrey County Council
• Tees Archaeology (Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees)
• Warwickshire County Council
• West Berkshire Council
• West Sussex County Council
• West Yorkshire Archaeology Service
• Wiltshire Council
• Winchester City Council
• Wolverhampton City Council
• Worcester City Council
• Worcestershire County Council
• Yorkshire Dales National Park

ALGAO has four key objectives:

1. To provide a strong voice for local authority historic environment services and promote these within local government to strengthen and develop their role within local government in delivering local, regional and national government policy.
2. To ensure that local government historic environment services are included within policy (national, regional and local) for culture and education.
3. To ensure that policy aims to improve the sustainable management of the historic environment.
4. To promote development of high standards in the historic environment profession

Only minor amendments to our priorities were proposed.

England Exec has meet six times during the year. Meetings have continued to held online due to maximise attendance and reduce travel and meeting expenses. The committee receives regular update reports from the Historic Environment Record (HER), Planning and Legislation, and Countryside committees.

Advocacy: The Executive continues to maintain an overview of service provision and potential threats to historic environment services across the country. The work has often been in collaboration with other sector bodies, mostly with CIfA and the CBA.

• Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) Bill – Exec has been monitoring progress of the Bill through the Parliament. Although we welcome statutory HERs, some of the wording is problematic for some of our members. Amendments to the Bill were proposed but unfortunately these were not taken forwards. However civil servants at DLUHC assure us that our input will be sought in the development of secondary legislation that will address our concerns. We also met with APPAG and the Heritage Council.
• National Planning Policy Framework revisions – response to the consultation was submitted via Planning and Leg committee
• Heritage Alliance Spatial Planning Advocacy Group – a representative attends this group on behalf of ALGAO England. It has been useful avenue for information/influence on Government plans and for shared information.  Another representative attends the Rural Heritage Advocacy Group of the same organisation on behalf of the Countryside Committee (UK?)
• Society of Antiquaries of London – Exec noted and responded to the revised Society of Antiquaries of London ‘Manifesto’ for archaeology, noting that the ‘revised’ version remains as flawed as the draft. However a workshop held in November 2022 saw the wider sector effectively reject what was proposed.
• Historic England – Exec have maintained liaison meetings with Historic England, although these have not happened as frequently.
• ALGAO-E is represented on the Historic England ‘Future of Archaeological Archives’ panel
• Historic Environment Forum – ALGAO-E is on circulation list. It provides us with the opportunity to have input into suggestions for items for the Heritage Council to discuss – attended by ministers and senior civil servants.
• ADEPT – ALGAO continues to sit on the ‘Natural Capital and Heritage’ working group, which reports to the wider Environment Board at ADEPT, to raise profile of archaeological matters.
• Exec held a special meeting in March to discuss the increasing pressures on LAAs due to the lack of capacity and recruitment. A number of action were identified for further discussion such as gathering information about charge out rates, identifying existing framework for training, and learning more about new techniques and how these can be applied. Exec agreed to approach CIfA and FAME to discuss these topics further.
• 21st^t Archaeology Project Training and Skills proposal – we have been talking to Historic England and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists about the potential for ALGAO-E to lead on the survey related to training needs, which would also incorporate recruitment, person specifications, CPD, informal networking/mentoring etc.
• 21Cap Improve resourcing and resilience of local authority archaeological advice services – Exec submitted comments on the project design
• Portable Antiquities Scheme – we have a representative at the Advisory Group meetings. These have tended to focus on the definition of Treasure, and commercial rallies, and most recently have contributed to the amendment of the definition of treasure.

Exec held a special meeting in March to discuss the increasing pressures on LAAs due to the lack of capacity and recruitment. A number of action were identified for further discussion such as gathering information about charge out rates, identifying existing framework for training, and learning more about new techniques and how these can be applied. Exec agreed to approach CIfA and FAME to discuss these topics further.