The South West Heritage Trust has six main responsibilities for the archaeology of Somerset:
- Providing planning advice to County and District planning authorities to ensure that suitable mitigation is in place where damage to archaeological sites cannot be avoided in development proposals
- Providing management recommendations for agri-environment schemes to help protect and enhance archaeological features
- Recording the known archaeology of Somerset (excluding Exmoor) on the publicly-accessible Somerset Historic Environment Record
- Undertaking projects with partners to help protect, research and promote the archaeology of Somerset
- Acting as an archive and museum repository for the products of archaeological fieldwork in Somerset
- Running the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Somerset, to ensure that discoveries made by the public are appropriately recorded