Shakespeare North, Mill Street, Prescot, Knowsley, L34 5QA
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.
12 - A planning application was determined without specialist archaeological curatorial advice
The absence of specialist archaeological curatorial advice (adviser not in post; advice not given because of capacity or other issues) led to the determination of an application without appropriate consideration of the archaeological implications.
Non-designated heritage assets of archaeological and historic interest.
Erection of a four storey building (including basement) to accommodate a 350 seat theatre with ancillary teaching facilities and film screenings and a car park.
The site is adjacent to the church, and shown on a 1592 plan of the town as the location of a pottery kiln. Pottery had been recovered from the site in a small excavation in 1980-1, but the reporting was poor. It is a prime site in the medieval town, and for which pre-determination evaluation would be a standard recommendation.
A desk-based assessment was produced in March 2016 and the application was approved in April 2016. The planning application was determined without any evaluation, but works were made a condition of the planning consent.
The Merseyside Environmental Advice Service (MEAS) became operational for planning advice to the LPA from July 2016. A project brief was prepared by MEAS, but contractors were initially reluctant to quote against it due to the high archaeological potential of the site and the lack of information (i.e. no evaluation). In due course, tenders came in with costings but these were considered to be too high (five times as much as expected). MEAS was tasked with negotiating a reduction in costs, which was achieved, but this led to a significant delay in starting. It had been intended to be finished on site by August 2017, but works didn’t start until December 2017 and finished in January 2018 – including a two week Christmas break.
Significant archaeology was excavated rapidly and under difficult weather conditions. The post-excavation assessment report is in progress and forthcoming.
The cost-reduction process did see some outreach proposals (including an open-day) removed from the programme, but they were later re-instated at short notice (including a VIPs tour on the last day) when interesting archaeology was found.
- Philpott, R A 2016, Desk-based Archaeological Assessment of Land at Mill Street, Prescot, Knowsley. Unpublished report.
