Archaeology charging schedule

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.

We do not charge for initial pre-application advice.

What you need to know

• A brief remains valid for one year.
• A brief will usually be provided within 15 working days from application.
• On request, a 'fast track' brief can be provided within 5 working days for an additional 50% charge on the standard tariff. We will get back to you within two working days if we cannot meet your fast-track request.
• Comments on standard reports are usually made within 30 days of submission of the relevant documentation (by negotiation for major projects)
• Approval of a submitted WSI will usually be completed within 15 working days. Where a WSI or report fails to meet required standards and / or substantive changes are required additional charges are made at the standard rate of £60 per hour.
• All charges in the Schedule are exclusive of 20% VAT.

What you need to do

A archaeological brief and specification form must be completed for all projects (including charitable/ community projects). You'll be sent an invoice from Suffolk County Council with your brief.

What's included in the charge

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 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.

• An administration charge of £30 will be added if brief request forms are submitted with incorrect information for invoicing purposes, requiring replacement invoices to be issued.

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.

Planning advice charges

Note:

• Pre-app advice, before a brief is commissioned by the developer, is free of charge. (complex sites are charged on a case-by-case basis)
• Meetings and site visits at developers request are charged at £60 per hour plus travel costs.
• Hectares is shown in the table below as ha. E.g 0.5ha

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:

• standard search is 10 working days
• priority search is 5 working days for double the standard fee

What's included in the charge

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.

Charges

Note:

• the data is provided on a site by site basis. This can be a specific development site(s) or a generalised discrete area(s)
• the charges exclude VAT at 20% 
• An administration charge of £30 will be added if HER data request forms are submitted with incorrect information for invoicing purposes, requiring replacement invoices to be issued.

Find out more about Historic Environment Record (HER).

The charges:

• include the administration costs associated with deposition and as a contribution towards long term storage
• exclude VAT at 20%

The cost of transfer and any insurance for objects during transfer will be the responsibility of the depositor.

The Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service reserves the right to refuse to accept archives which do not meet the current published guidelines, or to charge additional fees to cover the cost of repackaging, stabilisation and administration as appropriate.

Find out more about archaeological archives service.