Sorry to hear this Ingrid. Not got much useful info to share as we only have HER search charges  at present.  However have you thought about emailing ALGAO England / UK as they may be able to provide useful information / advice as well?

 

Tracy

 

 

 

Dear All,

 

We have started the formal 45-day consultation period for the latest round of restructures.  It is proposed to cut the Historic Environment Team from two people (between us covering HER, planning archaeology, buildings conservation, etc) to just one post supposedly covering all those functions.  This follows cuts in previous years that have already severely reduced the service.  The current proposal is unworkable, to put it mildly, especially for the HER.  For reasons that I won’t go into, it has fallen to me to try to save the service. 

 

I’m trying to persuade Management to retain two full time posts – Planning Archaeologist/HER Officer and Conservation Officer.  This will save some money over the current situation, but nowhere near as much as having just one post.  Following initial detailed discussions about the feasibility of the single-post idea, it is clear to me that I need to make up the shortfall before Management will consider my proposal.  I’ve been told that to come up with money-making ideas, effectively to cover the cost of one post.    

 

I know that many of you have gone through this process already.  I’d welcome any ideas about work that could be charged for across the service – HER, archaeology and buildings conservation.  Currently we only charge for HER enquiries, which doesn’t bring in very much money, especially as we have no FEP work.  Clearly there are a lot of other things we could charge for – I’ve been looking at Worcester City Council’s HER and Archaeology 2014/15 charge sheet.  For instance, we’ve talked before about charging for editing reports, although more as a way of encouraging the units to do that themselves!  I have much less idea about the buildings conservation side of things, so if you are aware of possible charges for providing advice to householders and property owners, that would be very useful.  It seems that Management will consider charging for anything that our legal team will agree to.  Also, if you are already charging for a range of services, how do you manage this without creating lots of additional admin work.

 

So, please send me any ideas, off-list and in-confidence if you prefer.

 

Best wishes

Ingrid   

 

Ingrid Peckham
Historic Environment Record Officer 

Planning and Development Team
Southampton City Council
023 8083 2850
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