Riker Book

This page is for notes for my book idea for a sequel to William Riker's The Art of Political Manipulation.

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Boodle Ordinances, Zoning Variances, and Extortion

An ancient Saxon burial ground has been uncovered on land earmarked for new housing in a Teesside village.

So far, 90 human skeletons have been exhumed from the site to the rear of Milbank Close in Hart village, near Hartlepool.

The scale of the burial site is so large that it's led to spiralling costs for the developer, Brian Cowie.

He had received planning permission to build 15 houses on site, and agreed to pay a number of financial contributions to Hartlepool Council - £22,149 off site affordable housing contribution, along with £27,495 towards education and £3,750 each towards green infrastructure, play provision and sports facilities.

However, the developer has now made an application to the authority's planning committee to remove those obligations.

Helen Heward, from Planning House, on behalf of the applicant, said the discovery of the burial ground has seen archaeological costs become "20 times" more expensive. Related Articles

She said: "Whilst archaeology works were budgeted for it was never expected to be on the scale that this has resulted in.

“Even when the works were carried out, every time one was found it was expected that it would be the last one, so it really has spiralled.”

She added further financial pressures have been placed on the applicant as a result of the pandemic, with limited interest in the current plots.

However a "significant amount of money" has been spent on the infrastructure already in place, and the applicant is committed to delivering the housing.

Mrs Heward added: “In this situation a lot of money has already been spent on the development and the applicant is committed to delivering the housing on the site.”

Jim Ferguson, council planning and development manager, said it was a "very, very unusual case" and officers were satisfied the outstanding obligations would "jeopardize the viability and the deliverability of the scheme".

He said: “In order to deal with these important remains in an appropriate manner, the archaeological costs have increased substantially, and to date are almost 20 times the amount that was originally budgeted for, rising from £20,000 to £391,000.”

Councillors on the committee approved the removal of the costs, with two voting against the decision. <rev> 90 human skeletons exhumed from ancient Saxon burial ground during building work for houses 'Every time one was found it was expected that it would be the last one, so it really has spiralled' TeessideGazette 20 JAN 2021 https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/90-human-skeletons-exhumed-ancient-19658771?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar </rev>

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