What is PPG 16?

PPG 16 is Planning Policy Guide note number 16, and was issued by the Department of the Environment in November 1990. It says in effect that the responsibility for rescue archaeology lies not with central government but with the local planning authorities, and that archaeology should be included in their planning policies, and suggests how planning authorities should exercise their powers.

Archaeologically the main change was that it suggested that there should be a distinction between what it called 'curators' and 'contractors'. The curators are the archaeologists employed by local authorities who advise the planning departments as to the archaeological significance of planning applications put before them. They maintain what is called an 'SMR', that is a Sites and Monuments Record, a database of all archaeological finds made in the county, which should guide them as to the archaeological significance of any site.

Contractors on the other hand are 'commercial' archaeologists employed by the developers to put their case to the curators. They carry out the preliminary evaluations of sites, and then carry out any excavations needed.

Philosophically there is much that may alarm the liberal in PPG 16. It is not law, it is guidance; it has never been put before parliament and it is spoken in a sweet tones of guidance, not law. The only sting comes in the final sentence on the back page of the booklet, that the Secretary of State will have regard to this guidance in dealing with appeals. Yet there can be no denying that it has been hugely successful. It has been an outstanding example of 'privatisation', transferring the cost from the government to the developer for whom it becomes a hidden 'tax' on development. It has vastly increased employment in archaeology and has introduced a new generation of dynamic entrepreneurial archaeologists. It has become one of the most effective examples of rescue archaeology in the world; and as long as archaeologists continue to interpret it reasonably, there is no reason why it should not continue to function well.

How PPG 16 works: extract from a speech by Geoffrey Wainwright, English Heritage's Chief Archaeologist, and the 'Father' of PPG 16

PPG 16: a synopsis of the document

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