Frustrations shared over decades-long wait for new cemetery site

WORKING GROUP DELAYED BY COUNCIL'S ECOLOGICAL SURVEYS

- By GEORGE PALMER-SOADY

A SITE that has been abandoned for decades could finally become a cemetery - more than 40 years after it was first proposed.

Those behind the plans have offered a dash of optimism for its future, but have shared frustrations at what they call a drawn-out and bureaucratic planning process.

It was two years ago in July 2023 when Calverton Parish Council chairperson Andy Meads submitted new plans for the development on Hollinwood Lane.

Permission was first granted in the early 1980s, but soon fizzled out because of disagreements.

Councillor Meads set up a new cemetery working group after it was discovered only three plots were left at the Municipal Cemetery, only a stone’s throw away on Mansfield Road.

But since that point, the working group say they have been stuck in a back-and-forth with Gedling Borough Council, which has requested various surveys, such as to see if the new cemetery would be safe for bats and badgers.