Metal Detecting: what on earth is going on in Bromsgrove?

The Council has posted this:

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Permission for metal detecting
Following some incidents, we are currently reviewing our policy on detecting and so are not granting any permissions on Council-owned land at this time.

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Incidents? The mind boggles. But what we do know is that their previous policy, their Metal detecting Guidance document (PDF) was shambolic. ( https://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/media/927037/Metal_Detecting_Guidance.pdf

Much of it is copied verbatim from the detectorists’ 0wn NCMD Guidance, carefully worded to only pay lip service to responsible behaviour. Thus, there’s no insistence that all reportable finds should be reported to PAS nor the fact everything found belongs to the Council and must be delivered to them!

They might as well have said, “Fill yer Boots”! By contrast, compare the metal detecting advice in Doncaster, where archaeologists, not detectorists wrote the policy. No theft from the Council or knowledge-theft from the community there!

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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