News Items

IfA has responded to the beta version of the government planning guidance pointing out omissions and areas for improvement.

For the full text please visit our consultations page

IfA welcomes and strongly supports the publication of an ‘overarching strategy for the protection and promotion of the historic environment’ in Scotland (Ministerial Statement, page 4). The Institute endorses the aim to provide ‘ambition and direction for Scotland’s historic environment’ (Historic Environment Strategy for Scotland, Ministerial Statement, page 4) and recognises the importance of obtaining the sector’s ‘buy in’. Nevertheless, it is important that the strategy is a Government strategy and one of its strengths should be that it operates across Government.

IfA has recently updated our Policy statements to include the use of training posts on archaeological projects. Other statements have also been amended in line with new Standards and guidance and amendments to the Code of conduct.

We recommend all IfA members and Registered Organisations have a look through the updated document and make it available to colleagues.

The document, which can be found here, includes the following Policy Statements

Joe Flatman and Dominic Perring (both Members of IfA) have recently published their paper The National Planning Policy Framework and Archaeology: A Discussion. The paper is the starting point for the latest edition of Papers from the Institute of Archaeology (PIA) which provides an insightful and informative exploration of the English planning framework, with responses from a range of organisations (RESCUE, CBA) and individuals representing the diverse heritage sector - including IfA Chief Executive Peter Hinton.