Super cemetery plan is buried

Alderman James Tinsley has said residents in Dundrod are delighted with news this week that Belfast City Council has scrapped plans to build a super cemetery near Quarterlands Road.

At the Park and Leisure Committee meeting at Belfast City Council recently it was decided that the plans to build a 100 acre site that would provide a sufficient burial capacity for a 50 year period was working out too costly with fears that it would run into difficulty at the planning stages anyway.

It is now expected that the council will look at smaller sites and will review the current strict burial policy.

However, the council say that they may still speak with the site owner to see if a smaller site could be utilised for burial lands.

“We are delighted with this conclusion,” said Mr Tinsley.

“It is clear that Belfast City Council are no longer interested in this site which is a big relief to the community.

“The pressure from the community has clearly paid off.”

In the summer a group of residents, along with MP William McCrea and Mr Tinsley met with the Director of Parks and Leisure Department Andrew Hazzard of Belfast City Council who told them that they had been looking at ways of resolving burial issues in the city for four years.

He said that after an exhaustive search they found suitable land near the Ulster Grand Prix site at Dundrod at Quarterlands Road which would include a new access right turn land and visibility splays.

Other sites that had been looked at by the Council included locations at Hightown, Newtownabbey, and Drumbeg, but were ultimately ruled out.

Another site at Lisleen on the outskirts of east Belfast was also dismissed after extensive surveys.

The council had real difficulties in identifiying a suitable site due to the strict guidelines required for a cemetery within a reasonable distance from Belfast.

At the Parks and Leisure Committee Meeting recently members were told of the constraints and issues that have been identified with the site at Dundrod and the costs required to carry out the further investigations would not provide good value for money and therefore no longer considered viable for developments as a potential cemetery.

It was estimated that it would cost in the region of around £508,000 with an assessment study costing a further £51,000 at the Ulster Grand Prix site.

As part of their investigation it was found that a secondary access would be needed along the Carnaghliss Road when the annual Ulster Grand Prix event was held.

This would mean more land would have been required from the local landowners.

NIEA’s guidelines on the buffer watercourses required would be unavailable to use on the burial plots.

And because the area was of high archaeological potential due to three raths a study would need to be required.

Depending on what was found in this study it may have been necessary to spend £250,000 on an investigation into the site.

A hydrogeological risk assessment would also be required for the site which would cost around £8,000.