Council presses on with cemetery plan

Time is running out in the search for a new cemetery site

Plans to build a new cemetery for Hull on land at Cottingham are back on the agenda.

The city council's cabinet decided on Wednesday to resubmit a planning application for land it owns at Priory Road after having examined six other possible sites.

The original planning application was withdrawn last year after objections by local residents.

But officers have concluded that time is running out to find a new burial site and Priory Road remains the best option.

Nearly full

Hull's Northern Cemetery has only enough plots left to last until August 2004.

The Western Cemetery has only 50 new plots available.

Councillor David Gemmell acknowledged that the Priory Road plan will not be popular with everyone.

But he went on: "Within 18 months we need somewhere to bury the deceased in the west of the city if we are not to compel bereaved families in the west to bury loved ones in Eastern Cemetery.

"This would cause difficulties to visitors, especially the elderly, wishing to visit and mourn at the graves of loved ones."