Hundreds of residents have objected to plans to covert part of a golf course into a cemetery.
Bracknell Forest Council would like to expand Easthampstead Park Cemetery and Crematorium onto the next-door Downshire Golf Complex to address the town’s emerging burial space crisis. This would provide the borough with another 25 years of burial spaces.
But more than 350 residents have opposed the plans, which are set for decision by council leaders.
Part of the golf course, used as a ‘pitch and putt’ usually for younger or intermediate golf players, would be overtaken by the graveyard. This area is currently used by more than 150 children every week, according to one commenter.
Councillor Iskandar Jefferies, executive member for leisure, culture, public protection and democracy spoke about the plans at a recent Bracknell Forest Council Overview and Scrutiny commission.
The executive member said: “Our current cemetery is coming up to its lifespan. As you know when Bracknell was built, we are a new town, and the cemetery was built with a lifespan.
Cllr Jefferies warned that if the expansion does not happen, ‘in a few years from now, residents will not be able to bury their loved ones’, which would be ‘really sad to see’.
Everyone Active, which runs the golf course, had ‘pre-empted’ the plans, according to Cllr Jefferies, after proposals first emerged in 2020.
The council makes around £2m a year from the cemetary.
Bracknell Forest Council’s executive will decide on whether to grant the ‘appropriation of land’ for the graveyard at a meeting on November 12.
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