Valley Park location considered for new cemetery in Newtownabbey
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has carried out a feasibility study at a proposed new cemetery site.
Exploration has taken place at two adjacent plots in Valley Park, Newtownabbey, to assess suitability for development of this facility.
Minutes of a recent meeting of the council’s Operations Committee said both sites were “considered capable of accommodating a viable cemetery” subject to further investigations and technical assessments with “no technical or environmental constraints identified”.
One of the sites was considered more suitable for burials and the other for infrastructure to provide access, parking and landscaping.
Minutes stated the next phase of assessment would include further ground investigation, archaeological impact assessment, tree survey, contaminated land risk, flood risk and drainage assessments and traffic assessment as well as the preparation of a concept design and lay-out plan.
Councillors were also given an update on improvement works at the meeting for roadways and pathways at Carnmoney Cemetery, Newtownabbey. The report noted these have experienced “significant deterioration”.
It indicated the initial phase during the current financial year would focus on two zones where surface condition and drainage issues require “urgent attention” with further works in the pipeline for 2027/28.
Minutes also stated that following initial investigative works undertaken in relation to (New) Rashee Cemetery, Ballyclare, an archaeologist has been engaged to oversee a planned programme of test excavations following the discovery of a suspected souterrain.
It is expected this will provide a more detailed understanding of potential constraints and help determine the extent to which land surrounding the souterrain may be affected.
The report added that investigative work would identify implications for the number of burial spaces likely to be impacted and lay-out.
Councillors were told previously the presence of a suspected souterrain – an underground or partially underground chamber structure – at Rashee Cemetery, could result in the potential loss of 120 unused burial plots.
Minutes said a member expressed his concern regarding any test excavations at the cemetery and urged a “cautious approach” to any such work.
Councillors were also told at the meeting non-residents accounted for 70 per cent of cremations at the borough’s crematorium, at Doagh Road, Newtownabbey, during a three-month period earlier this year. There were 395 cremations overall from April until June, of which 116 were residents and 279, non-residents.
Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter