You can read Suffolk County Council's statement on our website.
![Councillor Peter Gould](/image-library/peter-gould-ws-hr-1.xb6cb8b20.jpg?width=470&height=256&fit=crop&quality=75&format=webp)
You can read Suffolk County Council's statement on our website.
Charging has been introduced to ensure that we have the resources to allow the continued provision of the service. Local Planning Authorities do not currently make any contribution to the costs of archaeological consultation process in relation to planning applications.
The Local Government Act 2003 and the Localism Act 2011, gives local authorities the power to charge. We are bound to ensure that income from any charges does not exceed the costs of providing the service. The charging schedules below will be reviewed annually.
The charging schedules below will be reviewed annually.
We base our rates on an assessment of direct and indirect staff costs within Suffolk County Council.
The charges are for our expertise in quality controlling archaeological work to ensure compliance with national and local planning policy. The charges also apply to any developments which fall outside local planning authority decision making such as utility pipelines, cables and national infrastructure projects. Charges also apply to all permitted development. There are no charges for most community led projects.
Charging is based on standard or routine involvement in projects, by type and size, and an estimated number of visits allocated that will cover the majority of cases. If further work is required due to unforeseen site circumstances, additional charges will be calculated on a pro rata basis.
There is a flat fee with add-on charges for specific points of contact and specific stages in the archaeological planning process.
We do not charge for initial pre-application advice (up to an hour of officer time). However, developers, their agents and archaeological organisations acting on behalf of developers are required to pay for the team’s advice during the planning process.
For desk-based assessments, palaeoenvironmental assessments and geophysical survey, where no site monitoring visit is required, no charges will be raised unless further work stages of archaeological work are required.
You will be required to complete a simple online application form to initiate the work, and we will raise an invoice which will be sent to you following the production of your brief. The charge will be invoiced based on the details submitted on the request form; therefore archaeological contractors and agents must ensure their client is aware of the charges.
Payment must have been made before each stage of archaeological investigation has been completed. Failure to pay will result in the delay of approval of the stage of archaeological work.
Charges are applied to all new casework and for new stages of on-going archaeological investigations.
The charge is inclusive of: production of the project brief, review of the Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI), monitoring of the fieldwork and scrutiny of the report (per stage and phase of work) to ensure that planning requirements are fulfilled. Any development sites within a historic urban core as defined by the HER will incur an additional 25% charge to the amounts in the table below.
The planning advice charges do not include any searches of the Historic Environment Record (HER). Find out about the HER charges in the next section on this page.
The number of monitoring site visits allowed for per category is included in the table below, any additional visits required can be charged at the standard rate of £60 per hour plus travel cost.
Note:
Category |
Description of work |
Monitoring |
Evaluation |
Excavation |
1a |
Development of a historic building (demolition and/or conversion) |
£120 |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
1b |
Development is a single dwelling, garage/cart lodge, extension or other small development |
£120 |
|
|
2 |
Development is between 2 and 10 dwellings or covers less than 0.5ha in area |
£120 |
|
|
3 |
Development is 11 dwellings or more or between 0.5ha and 2.5ha in area |
Not applicable |
|
|
4 |
Development is between 2.5ha and 10ha in area |
Not applicable |
|
|
5 |
Development is between 10ha and 20ha |
Not applicable |
|
|
6 | Development is between 20ha and 30ha |
Not applicable |
|
|
7 | Development is over 30ha and/or a major infrastructure project, a significant linear project (pipeline, road, or cable route) or quarry |
Email archaeology@suffolk.gov.uk or call 01284 741230 to discuss your scheme and obtain a quote. |
Our policy of charging developers and their agents, consultants and contractors to consult the Historic Environment Record (HER) is for commercial purposes or to reproduce digital data derived from the HER.
A Historic Environment Record data request form must be completed before a search will be undertaken.
The standard response time for a:
A HER search comprises reports on requested HER datasets provided by email in PDF format, as well as exported HER mapping in GIS or PDF format. Reproduction rights for HER mapping are included in the search fee. HER charges cover the staff time to service an enquiry and include time taken to extract the relevant datasets and prepare reports, mapping and data.
Note:
Description of work |
Charge |
Standard search
Commercial visit to HER
|
£140 |
Priority Search
|
£280 |
Bespoke search Searches greater than a 2km radius, neighbourhood plans or for a major infrastructure project, a significant linear project (pipeline, road, or cable route) quarry or within a historic urban core |
Email archaeology.her@suffolk.gov.uk or call 01284 741237 to discuss your scheme and obtain a quote. |
Request PDF maps |
£70 to cover staff time |
HER searches for educational enquiries or community-led projects |
Free |
HER searches for funded research projects |
Email archaeology.her@suffolk.gov.uk or call 01284 741237 to discuss your scheme and obtain a quote. |
Our policy of charging for Historic Environment information requests and advice for Woodland creation, management or deforestation is to cover staff time to compile and prepare the information. Request should be made by filling out via our Historic Environment Record Data Request Form.
Along with the form, please submit any supporting information such as PDF maps or GIS shapefile of the proposed Woodland parcels by email to archaeology.HER@suffolk.gov.uk
The standard response time for a woodland search is 15 working days.
A UK Forestry Standard HER search comprises reports both full information and summary lists in PDF Format, as well as exported HER mapping and Historic Landscape Characterisation in either GIS or PDF format for any known Historic environment monuments within 500m of the proposed boundary or parcel.
Where required, information and advice is also included on how to manage known and potential historic environment features, the historic landscape character and included advice on the requirement for specialist archaeological survey or mitigation.
HER charges cover the staff time to service an enquiry and includes time taken to extract the relevant datasets, prepare reports, mapping and advice.
Note:
Standard Search
Large Search
Searches of woodland parcels totalling above 50 hectares may be subject to additional charge for staff time. For a quote please email: archaeology.HER@suffolk.gov.uk
The charges:
Date excavation phase started |
Price per box (up to 450 boxes) exc. VAT |
Before 1 January 2010 |
By negotiation |
1 January 2010 to 31 December 2014 |
£30 |
1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017 |
£40 |
1 January 2018 to 31 March 2022 |
£50 |
After 1 April 2022 |
£80 |
Additional boxes outside of 5% buffer |
£100 |
Quotes and tailored deposition timetables (for backlogs and infrastructure projects with more than 450 boxes) can be issued as required to depositors and last one year from the date of issue. After this time the quote becomes invalid and the box fee will default to the fee advertised at time of deposition.
Any additional work needed to be carried out by Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service staff to ensure the archive meets depositional and conservation standards will be charged, after discussion, to the depositing organisation.
Email archaeology.archives@suffolk.gov.uk or call 01284 741230 to discuss and obtain a quote.
Find the Suffolk County Council data protection statement here.