Concerns over site for new cemetery
By Catherine Collins, Evening Telegraph
Concerns have been voiced over the sites earmarked for a town’s new cemetery after it was revealed the existing one could be full in as little as two years. Rushden Town Council fears the cemetery in Newton Road will be full between the next two to 10 years and has asked East Northamptonshire Council to identify suitable sites for another one.
Both councils would prefer the Newton Road cemetery to be extended, but a plot of land next to it has already been identified as a possible site for future housing development, increasing its value.
Other suggestions include creating a new cemetery either on land near Spencer Park, which town councillors have raised concerns about because part of the site is below the water table, or on the opposite side of the A6 from the town centre.
Council leader, Colin Wright, said: “To expand the existing
cemetery in Newton Road would be the ideal situation.
“What’s more valuable to the town – more housing or extending the graveyard?
“We could have as little as two to three years left at the existing cemetery. There is the possibility of using certain plots again but that’s a very emotive issue.”
Cllr Wright said the new cemetery would include a green burial site, where graves are marked by trees rather than a headstone, and that it would have to be large enough to cope with the growth of the town.
Other councillors suggested the district council might compulsory purchase land if there were no affordable sites available.
The district and town councils are working together to find a suitable site which will then be earmarked as a cemetery in the Three Towns Plan which will set out where development should take place in Rushden, Higham Ferrers and Irthlingborough up until 2021.