Cemetery plans aim to extend town burial provision

The land is an open part of the Abbey Cemetery, which is next to Redditch Crematorium

Plans to repurpose part of a cemetery will extend burial provision in a town by 10 years, a council has said.

Labour-run Redditch Borough Council said its executive committee had decided more burials would be carried out on an open part of the Abbey Cemetery, next to Redditch Crematorium.

It said new options for longer-term burial provision in the borough would also be explored.

But Conservative group leader councillor Matt Dormer said the plans were "utterly insensitive", as the site had been used for people to scatter the ashes of loved ones for many years.

"Nobody's comfortable with this," he told the BBC.

He added people who had scattered ashes on the land believed it was consecrated.

The council said it acknowledged the "seriousness and sensitivity" of the issue.

"There will be families who, over the years, have used some of that open space at the Abbey Cemetery to scatter loved ones' ashes," said councillor Sharon Harvey, the authority's portfolio holder for environmental services.

She asked anyone directly affected by the change to "come and talk to us".

"We want to work with you to ensure that your needs are met, including considering new memorial features to honour those loved ones," she said.

Labour councillors, who took control of the authority in May last year, cancelled a previous plan for a new cemetery on Ipsley Church Lane put forward by Conservatives when they were in charge.

Dormer said "absolutely everything" had been done, including soil testing, to prepare the site to be the next cemetery.

"It's a slight gradient so its not like it's a flat surface that can be used for recreational activities - it is used for dog walking, it is used for runners, that can all remain," Dormer added.

However, the authority's leader, councillor Joe Baker, said many residents had opposed those plans, and other options would now be considered in the long-term.

The committee also agreed to commission a review of the potential for another site off Battens Drive to be used.