The Rattle Road, Stone Cross, Pevensey, East Sussex
5 - Pre-determination assessment/evaluation not undertaken; heritage assets identified during development
The absence of pre-determination assessment/evaluation on all or part of the development site (e.g. because of difficulties with access, refusal to evaluate) led to the unexpected discovery of archaeology during development that caused problems, such as delays to the development programme and/or the need for additional resources.
9 - Development commenced before required archaeological mitigation had been completed
The commencement of development (with or without a pre-commencement condition) before the completion of archaeological mitigation fieldwork caused problems e.g. Health and Safety; conservation of archaeology; additional resources required, including for agreeing and implementing complex method statements
Non-designated heritage assets with archaeological and historic interest
Residential development comprising the erection of up to 276 dwellings.
Archaeological Notification Area – location of the Roman road to Pevensey Saxon Shore Fort.
The site was allocated for development in the local plan without consulting the archaeology service. Because of this (and no reasonable prospect of refusal) the LPA was only prepared to ask for a geophysical survey pre-determination and then to add a condition to the planning permission.
Geophysical survey and post-determination evaluation, followed by strip, map and sample investigation, was undertaken. This revealed a multi-period landscape with a dense concentration of archaeological remains. These included a Bronze Age cremation and boundary ditches, a late Iron Age/early Roman settlement and field system, and an early Anglo Saxon cremation cemetery.
Issues of resourcing and the speed of development led to great pressure on the archaeological contractor to excavate and record areas containing a significant amount of archaeological features.
The archaeological processes have been unsatisfactory due to the absence of pre-determination archaeological assessment. Post-excavation is still ongoing.
The arrangements for local plan consultation on land allocations with the county archaeology service have improved as a result of the experience of this development.
- SWAT Archaeology 2015, Archaeological Evaluation of Land (Phase 1) at Rattle Road, Stone Cross, Pevensey, East Sussex. Unpublished report.
