Bath and North East Somerset Council had a county archaeologist based in Bath until 2018, when archaeological services were outsourced.

Changes in planning regulations and development increase the need for archaeological input and oversight based in the city. We need someone with local knowledge and expertise to safeguard our archaeology. The job cannot be done properly 50 miles away in Taunton. It is a real risk that Bath could lose its World Heritage status; Liverpool had its status removed in 2021 following years of damage to its heritage.

We believe that Bath and North East Somerset Council should reinstate the full-time post of County Archaeologist to be based in Bath. We believe that this is the only way of protecting both BaNES’s archaeological heritage and the City of Bath's World Heritage Site status.

This petition has been created by Bath and Counties Archaeological Society.