Ellesmere cemetery has only three years of space left, councillors say
Ellesmere Town Council is working to ensure that it can continue to offer burials into the future with its cemetery close to full.
The council says that, like a lot of cemeteries in Shropshire and elsewhere, the Swan Hill Cemetery in Ellesmere is close to maximum capacity.
A recent survey of the site has identified additional spaces which have been agreed by the council and which should ensure that the cemetery is able to offer burial spaces for new coffins up to the next three years.
New interment of cremated remains and interment of cremated remains into existing graves are not affected by the issue of limited space.
However in the longer term the council’s Cemetery Working Group says it continues to explore possible solutions both inside the existing cemetery and in relation to new sites close to the town.
A spokesperson said: "Separate work is ongoing to explore the possibility of extending the cemetery in the bottom section.
"This is the large, grassed space which may have been used for burial in the distant past and requires survey work to understand its viability.
"In relation to the piece of land at the top of Swan Hill Cemetery, which would seem to be the most obvious choice for a cemetery extension, this is privately owned."
The possibility of the council taking possession of that land was explored fully in 2005 when the council attempted at that time to take possession of the land by way of compulsory purchase, but this was refused, at Government level.
"This was at significant financial cost to the town and parish councils," the spokesperson said.
"There is no expectation that this piece of land will come into the council's possession at any time in the future.
"At that time the council also explored five other potential cemetery sites close to the town. In all cases these areas were deemed unsuitable for the creation of a cemetery because of issues relating to high levels of water, soil-type, and other geographic problems."
The Cemetery Working Group is continuing to appeal to local landowners to appreciate the impact of the cemetery being nearly at capacity and would ask that anyone who owns land that might be suitable for a new cemetery to approach the council.
