HUMBER ARCHAEOLOGY PARTNERSHIP JOINT BOARD

31st October, 2014

The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull

PRESENT:

Councillor D. Peacock (East Riding of Council) Councillor P. Pollard ( Council) Councillor S. Chaytor (Hull City Council) S. Devey (Team Leader, Conservation Landscape and Archaeology, Planning and Development Management, East Riding of Yorkshire Council) D. Evans (Archaeology Manager, Hull City Council) R. Atkinson (Senior SMR Officer, Hull City Council) D. Lister (Senior Finance Officer, Hull City Council) D. Macleod (English Heritage) R. Pawson (Democratic Services Officer, Hull City Council)

APOLOGIES:-

Alex Codd

Minute Report Business No. No. 449 Election of Chair for the Meeting

Agreed - That Councillor Chaytor be appointed as Chair for the duration of the meeting.

450 Minutes of the meeting held on 27th June, 2014

Agreed - that the minutes of the meeting of this board held on 27th June, 2014 having been printed and circulated, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the Chair.

451 Auditors Comments on the Annual Return

The Archaeology Manager submitted a report to the Board which outlined the comments received from the external auditors on the Annual Return for the Partnership, for the last financial year 2013- 2014, and on the actions which as a joint service the Board was now required to take.

It was stated that the auditors had raised two specific issues which needed addressing but apart from these the auditors felt the information provided in the Annual Return was in accordance with 1

Minute Report Business No. No. proper practice and no other matters had come to their attention. The two issues were: (i) that the Board had not produced evidence that it had considered the adequacy of its internal controls, or that it had carried out a risk assessment. Such evidence it had produced was in respect of Hull City Council rather than the Board, and (ii) that the internal auditor had not considered whether a risk assessment had been carried out.

Agreed - that the members of the Archaeology Partnership Joint Board acknowledge their responsibility for ensuring there is a sound system of internal control, including the preparation of the accounting statements and confirm to the best of their knowledge with respect to the body’s statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2014, that they have:

i. approved the statement of accounts which has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Accounts and Audit Regulations and proper practice;

ii. maintained an adequate system of internal control, including measures designed to prevent and detect fraud and corruption, and reviewed its effectiveness;

iii. taken all reasonable steps to assure itself that there are no matters of actual or potential non-compliance with laws, regulations and codes of practice, which could have a significant financial effect on the ability of the body to conduct its business or on its finances;

iv. provided proper opportunity during the year for the exercise of electors’ rights in accordance with the requirements of the Accounts and Audit Regulations;

v. carried out an assessment of the risks facing the body and taken appropriate steps to manage those risks, including the introduction of internal controls, and/or external insurance cover where required;

vi. maintained throughout the year an adequate and effective system of internal audit of the body’s accounting records and control systems, and carried out a review of its effectiveness;

vii. taken appropriate action on all matters raised in reports from internal and external audit, and

viii. considered whether any litigation, liabilities or commitments, 2

Minute Report Business No. No. events or transactions, occurring either during or after the year-end, have financial impact on the body and where appropriate, have included them in the statement of accounts.

452 Work of the Partnership

The Archaeology Manager submitted a report which provided the Board with information on the work of the Partnership in the current financial year (2014-2015).

In particular the Board were informed that: (i) one of the job share Administrative Officers took voluntary early retirement at the end of August; (ii) the detailed statistics for development proposals and Sites and Monuments Record(SMR) enquiries for the period 1st April 2014 to 31st August 2014 were detailed at section 3.10 of the report; (iii) the figures for expenditure and income for the period 1st April 2014 to 25th September 2014 were detailed at section 3.11 of the report and showed how 51% of the projected annual income had been raised already and of the allocated target for external income 92.9% had already been raised. However it was stated the income from agri-environmental schemes was showing a downward trend when compared to previous years but the shortfall had been made up by an increased demand for SMR searches; (iv) the total ear- marked reserve stood at £23,396; (v) watching brief reports have been produced since the 1st April 2014 bringing the Humber Field Archaeology watching brief reports to 1418; (vi) sections 3.18 to 3.27 outlined work undertaken by external contractors; (vii) the Historic Towns Atlas series were looking at producing a volume devoted to Hull; (viii) North Lincolnshire Council were co-ordinating a Heritage Lottery Fund project looking at the Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Landscape Partnership. It had been suggested that a second phase of this project might be considered to include the areas of and Cowick Moors, Moors and the Swinefleet area; (ix) the Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group are carrying out a project in , as part of a national programme, of surveying timber framed buildings in selected English towns; (x) the proposal to split English Heritage into two bodies, a new charitable trust called English Heritage and a non-departmental government body to be called Historic had now been approved by Central Government and will come into effect on the 1st April 2015, and (xi) a number of National Mapping Projects had been undertaken by English Heritage within the East Riding during the last 35 years and there were now plans to complete the coverage of the East Riding, with an additional project to cover the remaining parts of Holderness next year.

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Minute Report Business No. No. Agreed - That the report be noted.

453 Charging Policy

The Archaeology Manager submitted a report to the Board outlining proposals to revise and update the charging policy for the Humber Sites and Monuments Records (SMR).

The Archaeology Manager informed the Board that/of: (i) the last major overhaul of the charging policy was in October 2008 and therefore the bulk of the charges had remained fixed for the last six years and not been adjusted to take into account any rises in the subsequent costs of the service; (ii) the introduction of some additional charges had been discussed in March 2011, but not implemented; (iii) a programme of national changes was being progressively introduced as to how agri-environment schemes would be handled by the Government and particularly about which schemes would be eligible for payments under the schemes for which archaeological advice from Local Authorities could be paid. The likelihood of this is that income would reduce both in the current and future years; (iv) the detailed figures for income performance over the last twelve years was reported. It was explained that realistic income targets had been set throughout these periods, and (v) income from writing specifications, farm environment plans, energy crop schemes, the sale of publications and photographs, and the premises contributions from the two contractors or consultants who occupy part of the building.

It was stated that: (i) the proposed revisions to existing charges mostly equate to around an 8% increase on the 2008 charges; (ii) several consultants and applicants for larger schemes were asking the unit to read and comment upon draft reports or interim reports, and that this represented unnecessary double handling. In consequence it was proposed a charge of £65 & VAT for a watching brief report and £135 & VAT for an evaluation report; (iii) the unit is now often being asked to prepare a trenching plan for consultants and contractors for which no remuneration is currently being received. It is therefore proposed to make a charge of £65 & VAT for this service, and (iv) currently the charging policy contains a statement that a search fee may be charged for the time spent locating negatives or slides which in reality is hardly ever levied. It is proposed to make a charge of £7 & VAT for this service.

It was felt that none of the proposed amendments would generate substantial sums of money but cumulatively the revisions and rationalisations could make up the projected income shortfall in 4

Minute Report Business No. No. income received from agri-environmental schemes. If left unchanged then income levels would progressively fall, and would inevitably impact upon the levels of service provision and quality.

Members commented that: (i) if charges were not introduced the Council(s) would have to bear the cost; (ii) how the introduction of charges may deter un-necessary requests. An example was given of a 200+ page report submitted on three occasions for checking; (iii) the proposed charges were not excessive and suggested there should be a discretion to charge more than the standard £65 proposed for trenching plan specifications, agreed with the organisation beforehand, if the work involved was more complex and time consuming.

Agreed - That the Board approves the revised scale of charges and the introduction of the proposed new charges with the discretion to charge more than the standard £65 for trenching plan specifications should the work be more complex and time consuming.

454 Administrative Officer Post

The Archaeology Manager submitted a report which informed the Board of changes to the hours of the Administrative Officer post.

The Archaeology Manager informed the Board (i) one of the holders of the Administrative Officer post took voluntary early retirement at the end of August 2014; (ii) how the costs of the post are shared between the Humber SMR (Sites and Monuments Records) and Humber Field Archaeology (HFA); how the post had been reduced to 0.8 of a full time equivalent post, and (iv) of the percentage formula for apportioning costs between the Humber SMR and HFA budgets.

Agreed - That the update be noted.

455 Date and Venue of Next Meeting

Agreed - That the next meeting takes place at 10.00 a.m. during the first two weeks of February 2015 at the Treasure House, Beverley.

456 Planes and Ploughs - Mapping the Hidden Heritage of the East Riding

Dave Macleod the Operational Manager (Aerial Investigations and Mapping/Remote Sensing/Heritage Protection Department) attended the meeting to give a presentation on “Planes and Ploughs - Mapping the Hidden Heritage of the East Riding” 5

Minute Report Business No. No.

The Board were informed: (i) the team was based in York and there was another similar team based in Swindon and that the main thrust of their work was the identification of sites of archaeological interest through aerial mapping and remote sensing; (ii) of the work undertaken in recent years to map the Hull valley and how 794 previously un-recorded sites had been discovered and the records of 135 previously recorded sites updated; (iii) how 68% of sites of archaeological interest had been levelled over the last 60/70 years although below ground remains are still of interest; (iv) how evidence of an Iron Age settlement had been found near Woodmansey; (v) the aim was to protect archaeological monuments and that 48 such sites had been photographed to date; (vi) of the re-assessment and classification of a number of sites; (vii) how the loss of woodland was the most significant long term threat ; (viii) of how the boundaries of the scheduled parts of Watton Priory had been revised, and the scheduled area extended; (ix) of the proposal, following drainage work, to deschedule the Nunnery Hill site at Harpham; (x) of future plans to investigate the Rotsea Ferry crossing site, and (xi) of future plans to undertake aerial investigations and mapping/remote sensing in those parts of Holderness not already covered as it was felt the area had high potential for the discovery of new sites.

Agreed - That the presentation be noted.

Published on: 5th December 2014 Start: 10.00 a.m. Finish: 11.15 a.m.

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