New Staffordshire cemetery for green belt land
A new cemetery offering thousands of burials each year is being built in Staffordshire, under plans revealed today.
The facility between Norton Canes and Heath Hayes in Cannock will be able to offer up to 5,000 burials annually.
Bosses behind the scheme say if it is approved the cemetery will be in use for around 50 years and they say it is needed due to high demand.
Neither Cannock Cemetery in Pye Green Road in Cannock or Wolseley Road Cemetery in Rugeley accept new burials anymore.
The only other council cemetery in Stile Cop Road, Rugeley, will have capacity for a further seven to 10 years of burials following completion of an extension.
In the planning documents Cannock Chase Council states: "There has been a clearly identified need for additional long-term burial space in the southern part of the district to serve the communities of Cannock, Hednesford, Heath Hayes and Norton Canes for over a decade.
"The growth in households which the recently adopted local plan is proposing to be delivered will continue to add to the need.
"A new cemetery needs to have a minimum capacity for 30 to 50 years of burials.
"The proposed site at Norton Canes would provide 4,500 to 5,000 burials which would take 50 years to carry out at the current rate."
The cemetery will be built on 20 acres of green belt land off Norton Road. The Bleak House open-cast mine used to be sited on the land.
Plans for a new crematorium in Cannock were submitted to the district council last month.
If approved it will be the town's first crematorium.
Under the proposals, a crematorium, chapel and a 75-space car park will be built just behind the Truckers Rest cafe.
Bosses there say the business, which opened in the 1950s, will not be affected and will remain open.
Meanwhile, work at Stile Cop Cemetery has been hit by delays. Work was due to start in the spring. Although some minor preparatory works have been completed, the main bulk of the project has not yet begun.
A total of 1,200 plots are being created at the site to cope with demand at a cost of £300,000. The extra plots will allow burials for at least another 20 years.
Extension work is now due to start in the early part of next year.
Other sites were considered for the new cemetery including land off Wellington Drive, Longford, Washbrook Lane, Norton Canes and the former Grove Colliery site in Lime Lane, Norton Canes.
Under the proposals a lodge, reception, office and toilet block will also be built. Landscaping including trees, hedges and shrubs will also be added to add to the attractiveness of the cemetery.
