A428 and A10 growth corridors
Archaeology along the A428 and A10 Growth Corridors
Corridor schemes — road, utility and cable routes — raise a different archaeological problem from sites: they cross several landscapes and several authorities at once.
- Authorities
- Potentially more than one along the route
- Landscape
- Multiple geologies within a single scheme
- Approach
- Zone-based method rather than uniform specification
- Programme risk
- Concentrated at high-potential crossings
The landscape
A single linear route can move from chalk to clay to gravel to fen within a few kilometres, and each of those requires a different prospection technique, trench design and safe working method. It may also pass through more than one planning authority area.
What it means for your development
Linear schemes are best handled as a series of landscape zones with their own method, rather than a single uniform specification. Programme risk concentrates at the points where the route crosses high-potential ground, and those points should be identified and resolved first.
Questions
Common questions on this
Can one written scheme cover a whole route?
It can, provided it sets out zone-specific methods rather than a single generic approach. Where the route crosses authority boundaries, the discharge process may still need handling separately in each area.
Project review
Developing at A428 and A10 growth corridors?
Send the planning position and the site plan. We will set out the likely archaeological requirement, the sequence and where the programme risk sits.