PLANS have been submitted to create a new cemetery on land next to Basingstoke Crematorium as space in the council's Worting Road Cemetery is set to run out.

The application by Dignity Funerals Limited asks the borough council for permission to create a new cemetery with parking, access, footpaths and associated landscaping on land at Stockbridge Road, in North Waltham.

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The council operated cemetery in Worting Road, Basingstoke is close to full capacity, and the borough council has been looking at options for a new cemetery for more than eight years.

The borough council first mooted the idea for a new cemetery in 2014 when it decided to explore various options.

In 2015, planning permission was granted to develop a new cemetery on the land in Stockbridge Road.

However, the plans never came to fruition and the permission expired.

Now, plans have been submitted again by Dignity Funerals which intends to run the cemetery in conjunction with the adjoining crematorium and burial areas.

It said the new cemetery will “ensure continuation of cemetery provision in the borough”.

The proposed 6.6 hectare burial site is next to Basingstoke Crematorium and is made up of a field previously used for agricultural purposes and a smaller area of the existing crematorium garden.

The site is accessed from the A303 from the A30 Stockbridge Road, around 850m from the village of North Waltham.

A total of 81 car parking spaces would be provided.

The site was purchased by the borough council in 2015. It also owns the next-door crematorium which it leases to Dignity Funerals.

It is understood that if permission is granted for the new cemetery, the current lease of the crematorium will be surrendered, with a new consolidated lease granted for the entire site.

Dignity Funerals said in its application that discussions held with council officers in 2019 showed “general support for the principle of development”.

It added that the council’s development plan acknowledges a need for additional burial space in the area, adding: “The proposed scheme seeks to replace the existing council operated Worting Road Cemetery, which is envisaged to reach capacity in the near future.

"In meeting this need the proposed scheme would, therefore, help to alleviate future capacity problems as well as providing an important community facility, designed to meet the needs of the population.”

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