Locals 'shocked' at 6,000-plot cemetery planned for Walsall
A cemetery with more than 6,000 burial plots could be built in Walsall after plans were put forward.
Aldridge Construction Engineering, which owns the land in Winterley Lane, Rushall, has submitted an application to Walsall Council to create a natural burial ground there.
Bosses at the firm say the 6,450-plot cemetery will be 'unique' and that there is a need for it, with the nearest woodland and natural burial site in Stafford.
But the plans have been met with some opposition, with residents saying a cemetery would 'spoil a unique lane' in Walsall as well as putting watercourses at risk of contamination.
Ruth Meeke, aged 54, who farms on land next to the proposed cemetery with her sister Jane, 57, said: "Residents and landowners were shocked to hear of the cemetery/natural burial ground plans.
"There are many other uses for this site other than a cemetery, which would spoil a unique lane in the borough that has a history dating back hundreds of years.
"The proposed cemetery/natural burial ground on Winterley Lane could contaminate watercourses in the borough stretching six miles from the site."
In plans submitted to Walsall Council, bosses at Aldridge Construction Engineering talked of the potential the burial ground would have for developing a 'new multi-functional green space' after neighbours expressed dismay at losing green space when the limestone infill site currently on the land first began operating.
Although a report prepared for the council by the owners conceded that the need for 'conventional cemetery space' is 'not pressing', they did add that the need for woodland and natural burial sites are in 'greater demand' with the increasing population of 'first, second and future generation of Muslims requiring burial'.
Under the plans, Muslim graves will continue to follow the 'religiously-mandated style' with mounded earth and a small plaque and will be located in a separate plot, 'as preferred by many within the Muslim Community'.
Despite the increasing Muslim population given as a primary reason for the need of the new burial ground, Rushall councillor and vice-chairman of the planning committee Richard Worrall has moved to confirm that the site would be for everybody 'of all faiths or none'.
No-one from the firm was available for comment.
