It was introduced in November 1990 following public outcry after a number of high-profile scandals such as the threatened destruction of the Rose Theatre in London by developers.
PPG 16 stressed the importance of the evaluation of a site for its archaeological potential in advance of development in order to inform future management decisions.
Following the results of the initial evaluation, PPG 16 offered two solutions for preserving any significant archaeological deposits found to be on a development site.
All forms of archaeological investigation undertaken through PPG 16 are funded by the developer through an extension of the Polluter Pays principle, although this is not made explicit in the document itself.
Because of the potential for destruction of significant remains, PPG 16 prefers evaluation to take place in advance of any planning decision being made.
The work is monitored by a curator, normally the County Archaeologist, who is nominated by the local planning authority as an adviser and who also identifies sites where archaeology might be threatened by development.
However, without full legal status it lacked the power and reach of measures safeguarding similar environmental issues which are enshrined in law, such as those concerning endangered species.
This stressed the importance of evaluation, documentation and decision-making at each stage of a project based on empirical evidence and valid hypotheses.