South Sebastopol Archaeology and Historic Landscape Re-evaluation

Executive Summary

After a rapid re-evaluation, the South Sebastopol Development Area has been found to be a complexly layered historic landscape.
Its most important elements are the field systems of medieval and later date which are related to ancient farm sites of which some have surviving architecture of the sixteenth century.
This landscape has a deep past within an historic Welsh identity.
This exists as an island of rurality within the industrial landscapes of Torfaen and thus represents a unique resource within its locality.
As such it is not easy to protect within the current regime of designations and statutory protection which discriminates against small, isolated areas of historic landscape however important they may be.
The study reveals the inadequacy of the archaeology section in the RPS Chapman Warren impact assessment report.
The archaeology section in the RPS Chapman Warren impact assessment report also contains major internal inconsistencies which undermine its validity as a text and call into question the monitoring of quality exercised within the planning control system.
As a consequence it is advised that the initial assessment be re-done more rigorously and effectively in the light of the provisional findings in this report.
When this has been done a more protective and precautionary regime of development design should be undertaken.