Nanpantan is the best option for new cemetery
LOUGHBOROUGH Burial provision.
The provision of burial space, especially when it conflicts with the reservation of green open leisure space, understandably involves very difficult decisions.
It’s nigh on impossible to put a price on the benefits to people of all ages of having somewhere to play, wonder, and explore and be active. Increasingly those things can only be enjoyed in places like Beaumanor Hall where there’s a cost and a child only gets one chance. And schools and groups often say this is the first experience of green open space for many of the children.
The value of such space was evidently recognised when the covenant, mentioned in the consultation document, was added to local planning permission to make leisure and play facilities an essential part of developments, a part that needed to be included locally for all the residents. The fact that the council needs to take legal advice re the covenant clearly implies that any action to remove the green space at Allendale is evidently against the intention of the original plan that permitted the development.
Loughborough used to have several areas available for healthy and therapeutic pastimes, but slowly they’ve been compromised and reduced mainly due to housing development.
Shelthorpe Golf course used to be a general leisure sports field where kite flying, rounders, football, picnicking and all sorts of fun were enjoyed by all.
Thankfully, golf is no longer the minority sport it was when the those “Football fields” were converted, and so many rely on this open space. In fact various initiatives are in place to encourage others, including young and old, to get involved and benefit from being out there.
If the Golf Course was chosen to become the burial site, not only would this primary open green site in Shelthorpe be substantially reduced but also substantial traffic flow on busy funeral days would have to manoeuvre through the already congested housing estate, there and back.
Apart from the open space of the Golf Course, the only nearby open green space is Allendale road. And frequently outdoor games and general fun can be seen being enjoyed in that space.
That isn’t to say it wouldn’t benefit from more organised sporting input, perhaps from volunteer groups. But
it’s worth noting Allendale has a very limited prospect for burials.
Already misjudgements have been made by the council with respect to how long a burial space will last. With the growing local population it’s inevitable that whichever site is chosen it will become filled faster than originally estimated.
So the 42 years of Allendale site, and in fact the 109 years of the Golf Course site could prove very short term solutions.
For numerous reasons the priority of available land should be for the living local people and families to allow them to benefit from outside activities.
For this reason Allendale and Shelthorpe Golf course shouldn’t be compromised in any way at all.
The long term costs resulting from inactive and unhealthy lifestyles of especially young, local people could substantially outweigh any short term apparent benefits of using the Shelthorpe/Grange Park options.
Close neighbourhood facilities can have much more advantageous benefits for the living rather than for those who have passed away.
Nanpantan has much more extensive potential on so many levels,- space and access, - which ensure that this question will not have to be revisited in the relatively near future. It impinges on far fewer residential neighbourhoods and has the potential to service effectively much longer.
I strongly advise everyone to go online and give your opinion on these issues which will in time affect all of us.
www.charnwood.gov.uk/cemetery_consultation
David Clarke Loughborough
Editor’s note: The cemetery consultation runs until September 23