Controversial cemetery plans put on hold

Controversial plans to build a new cemetery in Rochdale have been put on hold.

Plans for a new cemetery, cemetery admission building and car park on Bury & Rochdale Old Road, Heywood, have been withdrawn, following a public outcry over the use of land.

The site put forward for the new cemetery on an area of undeveloped land to the north of Bury & Rochdale Old Road, between its junctions with Queen’s Park Road and Bamford Road caused fury at a planning meeting held earlier this month.

Peter Rowlinson, Head of Planning and Regulation at Rochdale Borough Council: “Following discussions between planning and our environmental services it was felt appropriate to withdraw the application before it was considered by the regulatory committee on 20 January.

“This will allow further time to review the range of sites that were previously looked at and to make it clearer to local residents what site options have been considered.”

The land was originally part of the park land belonging to Bamford Hall but is now used mainly for livestock grazing.

The Leader of Rochdale Council, Councillor Colin Lambert spoke to the planning and environmental services following the Rochdale planning meeting, which he described as a “farce” and it was decided that the plans be withdrawn from the regulatory committee.

Councillor Lambert said: “Clearly something was very wrong at the meeting.

“In the New Year I will meet with Mark Widdup (Service Director for Environmental Management) and we will look at all the sites again and any alternative sites and review the whole process.”

Bamford Councillor, Ian Duckworth, opposed the plans from the start; he described the latest developments as “very good news.”

Councillor Duckworth, like many at the planning meeting, has raised concerns about consultation. He said before planning consultation, a consultation asking people if they want a grave yard in the area should have taken place.

Councillor Duckworth added: “My best scenario would have been getting consultation and we have exceeded that.

“I am really pleased we have got this far but I am not putting my guard down.”

Councillor Duckworth said the use of the land has been put on hold, but it could “come back round again.”

The proposal for a new cemetery is part of a bid to meet a “clearly identified and significant shortfall” in burial plots within the borough of Rochdale.

It was recognised as early as 2003 that there is limited space remaining in the Council’s four cemeteries; at Rochdale, Middleton, Heywood and Dearnley.

An outline business case was prepared in 2008 setting out options and recommendations as to how the expected shortfall in burial spaces could be resolved and to make provision across the borough for a 35 year future period. It was estimated that approximately 190 new grave plots are provided each year across the borough and on that basis it was estimated that burial capacity would run out at Heywood cemetery by 2009, at Dearnley between 2009 and 2015 and at Rochdale between 2014 and 2019.

It is now expected that Rochdale cemetery will begin to run out of grave space from 2012 and by 2019 will have non left.