Dismay as allotments set to become graveyard

4 hours ago

Charlotte LillywhiteLocal Democracy Reporting Service

The cemetery (left) will be expanded to replace the allotments (right)

BBC A green area to the left of a black fence shows graves stones. To the right, compost bins lean against the fence and on the ground and vegetation is growing in the background. — The cemetery (left) will be expanded to replace the allotments (right)

Allotments will be turned into a graveyard despite nearly 1,700 residents signing a petition opposing the plans.

Richmond Council has rejected calls to rethink plans to extend Teddington Cemetery onto Shacklegate Lane allotments in south-west London to meet urgent demand for more burial spaces.

The authority said the allotments would be offered an alternative space.

The petition urging the council to scrap the plans, which were approved in December, warned that once the works went ahead, the allotments would be "gone forever".

The petition said: "Although we acknowledge that there is a need for further burial spaces, we believe this... is just a short-term solution to the longer-term problem of burial space."

It added: "We would like to see our council do what some other London boroughs have done and develop a long-term and sustainable burial plan, including exploring options for creating burial space, that do not involve taking away allotment land."

'Vital green lung'

Jane Cowling, presenting the petition, told the council's Environment Committee on Tuesday that residents felt strongly the "needs of the living community, rather than the dead, should be given greater weight".

She said if the council would not preserve all of the allotments, it should keep a meaningful portion while putting together a long-term strategy with better solutions to address the lack of burial space in the borough.

The council granted planning permission for the cemetery to be extended onto the allotments in 1993, but only approved proposals to urgently carry out these works in December last year.

Jane Cowling, presenting the petition, said the "needs of the living community, rather than the dead, should be given greater weight"

Purple, red vegetables on a patch with earth and greenery behind — Jane Cowling, presenting the petition, said the "needs of the living community, rather than the dead, should be given greater weight"

Ms Cowling said: "This isn't just a piece of land. It's a living, breathing part of our community. Since the council first made the decision in the 1990s, the world has changed.

"People care more than ever about sustainability, about access to green spaces, about mental and physical wellbeing, and about locally-grown food."

She added: "What we heard overwhelmingly from residents is simple. They do not want to lose this space. They don't want to see a vital green lung in our community replaced, especially when nearly half of the recent burials have been for non-residents."

Candace Taylor, from the Shacklegate Lane Allotment Association, said none of the residents she had spoken to "wanted to see a larger cemetery and all the allotments lost".

Matthew Eady, the council's director of culture and leisure, said: "Very clearly, there's lots of love for the allotments, and they're also really important to the council as well, and we want to support those plot holders to find space within the borough.

"But we also equally need to ensure that there's sufficient places for people to be able to be buried."

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