Upland policy and archaeological resources in North Wales
Abstract Implementation of post-war policies for the uplands has resulted in considerable impacts upon archaeological resources, which have gone largely unrecorded. A study of western Clwyd, North Wales has identified forestry and the improvement of upland vegetation for agriculture as primary causes of damage to archaeological sites. Both involve deep ploughing which is particularly destructive. Evidence suggests, albeit on a small number of samples, that Scheduled Ancient Monuments, despite their statutory protection against damage, are equally at risk as other sites of lesser importance.
Statutory designation and land-use changes — a case study from mid-Wales
Abstract This paper reports on a study within the wider remit of the Wales Terrestrial Database Project (WALTER). This project investigated the feasibility of creating an integrated rural resources and land-use information system for rural Wales, and demonstrated its capabilities to address policy objectives of the main land-use agencies. By a comparison of land use derived from aerial photograph interpretations for 1957 and 1985 for a 380 km2 catchment in mid-Wales, major changes in broad land-use types were revealed and influences of various statutory designations on these changes were investigated. The work made use of a proprietary geographical information system. In this paper, conclusions are drawn about the effectiveness of statutory conservation measures.
Methods for Assessing Direct Impacts
Procedures for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) are, in themselves, not sufficient to ensure that Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are prepared in such a way that ensures proper and adequate consideration of all likely environmental impacts. Nor can they ensure that EISs present complex data in a concise and informative manner to both decision-makers and the public. EISs which fail to attain a satisfactory standard may lead to public disquiet about the utility of EIA. The difficulties involved in preparing comprehensive and adequate EISs have received considerable attention in the literature. As a result a variety of structured approaches to the implementation of EIA and the preparation of EISs has accumulated (see Canter, 1977 and Clark et al., 1980). Such approaches have gained the titles “method” or “methodology”, (often used interchangeably) although the former will be used in this paper.