03/29/2024

Wales News Online

Local & National News for Wales

Planning permission for natural burial ground in Pembrokeshire

A NATURAL burial ground could soon be found alongside an existing graveyard in the village of Keeston.

A planning application to use part of an agricultural field as a natural burial ground on land to the south of the village is recommended for approval at next week’s committee at Pembrokeshire County Council.

The plan includes a memorial shelter, parking area and pedestrian access to the site where people can be buried in a “sustainable” way using only biodegradable materials while the land continued to be managed, in this case grazed by sheep, a planning report states.

The field is to the east of Bridge Lane and is adjacent to an existing graveyard to the immediate north, with residential development and the defined settlement boundary beyond.

The report to the meeting on December 10 adds: “When burials take place graves would be dug to approximately 1.2 metres. Following burial of the coffin the soil would be returned in compacted layers, with turf placed on top. It is stated that this depth would provide adequate depth of earth over the coffin, whilst allowing the body to decompose.”

There would be no gravestones but locations plotted and recorded in case future identification is needed.

Environmental officers found the risk to human health low and Natural Resources Wales is satisfied that there would be no unacceptable risk to controlled waters posed by the development.

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