Graveyard work to costs thousands
Wednesday 14th April 2010, 1:34PM BST.
Waterlogged marshland earmarked for use as a graveyard in Shropshire will need thousands of pounds spending on it before a single coffin can be buried, it was revealed today.
Newport Town Council has forked out £2,500 for a geological survey on land it bought next to the existing cemetery in 2005.
Now councillors are to be asked at a meeting tonight to approve a further £2,200 to bring in professionals to decide on the best way forward.
Options on the table include introducing cement tombs, increasing the height of the land or draining it completely – all of which will also incur extra costs.
The council bought the land because burial space at the cemetery was running out, but the marshland in Audley Avenue has caused headaches ever since because it is flood prone.
Councillor Tim Nelson, chairman of the town’s leisure and environmental services committee, said the council was keeping its options open.
“This is hugely important and we need to get it right, we cannot have decomposing bodies entering the water,” he said. “We want to spend the money on finding the best solution and then bringing that to the Environment Agency.”
Members of Newport Town Council will meet in the town’s Guildhall at 7.15pm.
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can the council not sell it back to the original owners as it was not fit for purpose?
does not the word marshland mean anything?
who decided to buy a bog as a cemetery?
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