PLANS to build a new cemetery in North Waltham have been approved by the borough council.

The council’s development control committee gave the go-ahead to the proposals for the new cemetery in Stockbridge Road which will include a chapel building, depot and parking, with access from the A30 sharing the junction with the Basingstoke Crematorium.

Documents prepared for the meeting state that the current cemetery, in Worting Road, Basingstoke, will reach its capacity in around five years.

The new cemetery will provide enough burial space to serve the community for 90 years.

Councillors on the committee heard that objections had been raised by nearby residents about “potential conflict between slow moving corteges (including horse-drawn) and fast moving ambulances accessing the proposed new hospital at Ganderdown Copse.”

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is planning to build a new critical treatment hospital near junction 7 of the M3.

Concerns have previously been raised about the cemetery being too far from Basingstoke, making it hard for people to reach the site by public transport.

To deal with this problem, the borough council said that it will pay £15,000 a year for a public transport initiative to get people to the site.

However, comments submitted by North Waltham Parish Council noted that although this was promised, “this service failed to materialise”.

The parish council added that public transport provision should be improved.

However, the report said the cemetery would not “generate sufficient support to enable a public transport service to be realistic or viable.”

The borough council has told The Gazette that it is still committed to providing the £15,000 for a public transport initiative.