Plans to extend burial grounds under threat (From Wiltshire Times)

Plans to extend burial grounds under threat

3:18pm Friday 11th August 2006 in Corsham By John Ballard

PLANS to extend a cemetery in Corsham could be shelved by rising costs due to environmental concerns.

Corsham Town Council wants to extend Ladbrook Lane Cemetery to provide the town with enough burial space for at least another 100 years.

Under environmental protection rules brought in two years ago, the Environment Agency was given greater powers in assessing the suitability of land for use as burial sites.

Councillors fear because the Environment Agency regards the Ladbrook Lane site as sensitive', an extensive assessment will have to be carried out.

The initial assessment involves a study of the land to examine the risk to groundwater and provides information to help plan the layout.

This report could cost in the region of £800, and a planning application to extend the cemetery will only be submitted if the risk is found to be low.

If further work to assess the land's suitability is needed, the costs would escalate and could force the town council to abandon the expansion plan.

On Wednesday councillors at the town council's finance and general purposes committee meeting recommended the initial assessment be carried out.

The Environment Agency had written to the council last month saying, among other regulations, no burials can be made less than 30 metres from a spring or less than 10 metres from field drains.

Cllr John Bright said: "I read this the letter with a mixture of horror and expectancy.

"What on earth they are likely to find down there in the proposed site, I do not know.

"They may come up on a spring of some sort, and if they do we'll just have to work around it."

Cllr Roger Fido added: "I can't see anything other than a spring that they would find."

Councillors are also worried that if the site is found to be unsuitable, it would be very difficult to find alternative burial ground anywhere in Corsham.

Cllr Bright said: "I do hope the survey shows it is low risk, because then it should be straightforward and we can put an application in.

"It would be difficult to find somewhere else that we could use."

The cemetery plans were met with a more positive response from Wiltshire County Council, as the town council was told in principle there would be no objection to providing road access to the new site.

At the moment there are only between 10 and 12 new burials in the cemetery each year, so it could be another 15 years before the present cemetery is totally full.