After nearly a year, the plans for a cemetery in Layhams Road, immediately south of the Metropolitan Police Dog Establishment, are due to go before a plans sub-committee on 17th October, it was revealed this morning.
The proposals are for reception and maintenance buildings, up to 55 car parking spaces and provision for over 7,500 graves.
In the committee report (pdf 362Kb) Planning officers are recommending that the proposals be refused on grounds of conflict with the operations of the adjoining police property, concerns from English Heritage over the archeological status of the site and a lack of “adequate, appropriate and reasonably enforceable measures to control the development and operation of the site”. The latter is related to the unusual situation whereby the site has been divided up into over 480 smaller plots, mainly owned by individuals in the Far East.
Numerous objections have also been received from local residents, including concerns over traffic and the effect on the Green Belt, with some citing parallels with a fairly recent appeal decision which refused a cemetery in Downe Road, not far away.
Hayes & Coney Hall Conservative Councillors 