Parish gives up cemetery fight (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Parish gives up cemetery fight

BOURTON Parish Council has decided it cannot afford to continue fighting for a cemetery extension.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has dismissed the parish's appeal against a Cotswold District Council decision to refuse planning permission.

At a meeting last week, disappointed members heard that a further appeal would involve risking about £20,000 of tax-payers' money.

The council had hoped to extend the parish cemetery into the village's allotments. However, the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott ruled that the scheme could damage the remains of Salmonsbury Camp, an Iron Age settlement that lies beneath 35 acres of Bourton.

Mr Prescott upheld the recommendation of planning inspector Victor Ammoun, who attended a public inquiry in Bourton in April. He agreed with the inspector's findings that, while there was a need for additional cemetery space in the village, he did not think it had been reasonably established that there were no reasonable alternatives to the appeal site.

Mr Ammoun said that four sites - Pockhill, land off Marshmouth Lane, the Spring Vale/Station Road allotments and an extensive area of the school fields and riding school - could provide space for the 240 plots the council wants to create.

Parish clerk John Nicholson said although most members did not agree with the appeal decision, the council would have to accept it for financial reasons.

"Our legal advisors said we would have to be looking at raising about £20,000 to take the matter further. Regrettably, councillors thought this was an unjustifiable expense."

The council now needs to restore the allotments earmarked for the extension, which had been left untended in anticipation of planning consent. "Now that the extension plan had died a death those plots need some attention," added Mr Nicholson.