Hear hear, Ray
The idea I proposed is not out of the world.
I too know that private firms will charge a lot of money to get a job done. But, at the end of the day, it comes down to doing physical work, be it in the shape of gardening, repairing a wall, removing roots of some tree that is too close to brickwork, applying a paint-brush....
My point is, this all needs funding. Presumably Paul's idea is too have the developers do all this.
So! These developers would invest £15 million into doing it! Does this seem a rational thought?
Unlikely!
As stated previously here, the work will need doing again in the future, in ten or thirty years time, or, you'd need a constant unit of workers doing every-day maintenance tasks to prevent major neglect in the first place.
So if we took your view as practical, as Paul and Jan do, you would reject the idea of permanently employing a few people on Western Heights for these tasks, and so let the area fall into decay until, in a few decades time, the next outcry goes up and another £15 million bill is required...
Then following your logic, in a few decades, another mega memorial would need be built, with hundreds more houses and another hotel, so that the developers again foot a £15 million damage bill for repairs to the historical sites.
Makes sense? No!
Even as it stands now, the developers are hardly likely to pull out £15 million in return for a few hundred houses and a hotel.
Ray, you need an economics expert here, as I've already advised Paul. You are in need of some expert advice, from a party that is not interested in making a financial gain on it, ie not the advice of the developers.
Should funding be received for a preservation-related authority to employ their own workers, be it in the form of DDC, WHPS, English Heritage, White Cliffs or whoever, they would have their own workers doing what needs doing, without having to go through very expensive private firms, developers and what not all. It would work out cheaper.
And there would be no need to damage the Heritage by selling it off to developers.