Tighter controls on cultivation of ancient monuments on the way?

The government has put forward proposals which would see greater protection for archaeological sites on cultivated land.
The government’s heritage white paper suggests that the class consent which allows agricultural cultivation to be continued should be withdrawn and replaced by a system of management agreements.
It claims that the current system was implemented on the basis that continuous same-depth ploughing does nor archaeological damage.
But research by DEFRA and English Heritage has shown that this is not the case and that cultivation causes damage to a significant number of scheduled ancient monuments.
The NFU said it wanted to see agreements lead to the conservation of historic sites and not compulsion.
“The NFU is pleased that the White Paper suggests that class consents would only be withdrawn on individual sites if a management agreement is first offered.
“We will be pressing ministers to use voluntary approaches, such as the Environmental Stewardship Scheme, and back this up with financial resources for English Heritage to support such agreements with advice and funding.”
Are you concerned by these proposals or do you think they’re a good idea to preserve archaeological sites for future generations? Tell us in our dedicated environmental stewardship forum, where we’ve teamed up with ADAS to answer your stewardship questions or concerns.