Heritage chief may quit

Sir Jocelyn Stevens, chairman of English Heritage, has told ministers he will resign if it suffers big cuts in next month's Budget. Having galvanised the heritage quango with his aggressive management style, the former newspaper executive had hoped to see his vision of a 4,000- acre Stonehenge Millennium Park on the Wiltshire Downs through to fruition. But Sir Jocelyn, 64, is engaged in game of brinkmanship with his superior, Virginia Bottomley, Secretary of State for National Heritage, and the Treasury. Yesterday he made plain he would quit if there is a further cut in EH's pounds 104m grant. His five-year term ends in March. EH's grant is due to be cut by pounds 44m in real terms over the next four years and it has been told to expect worse.

Any successor for the pounds 43,000 post would normally need to be in place as an under-study for six months.