Hi Emma,

In Durham we charge £60 for a standard SMR search to archaeological contractors and consultants (archaeological or otherwise) who request searches for development, with £30 for each hour over and above that. If they want to come in and do it themselves there is no charge apart from consumables such as printing/photocopying/downloading pdf onto CD-Rom.

Northumbrian Water regularly consult us about upcoming work and we advise them if there are likely to be archaeological implications & why. There is no charge for this general advice. They are generally very good at taking the historic environment on board and commission assessments & evaluation/mitigation as required. The same goes for the Environment Agency, although for very large projects I would advise them accordingly as to whether we could provide the information free of charge (i.e. if it were to take me more than the standard 1 or so of my time). Having said that a consultant working for the Countryside Agency wants SMR information along historic rights of way in the North Pennine AONB and seems astounded that I won't happily do it for naught.

Regards
Lee White

_____________________________________________
Assistant Archaeology Officer
Culture & Leisure
Durham County Council
Durham  DH1 5TY
0191-383-4212 (T)   0191-384-1336 (F)
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On-line SMR:  www.keystothepast.info