Plan for cemetery to double in size

CLYDE

FUTURE planning for Clyde’s historic cemetery will double its size.

Located on Springvale Rd, to the east of the main Clyde settlement, the land designated to the Clyde Cemetery is split into two distinct areas — the walled cemetery to the east and undeveloped field to the west.

It is the latter that is the focus of the Clyde Cemetery Development Plan which was approved by the Vincent Community Board at a meeting in Alexandra yesterday.

Central Otago District Council parks officer, projects, Marie Gordon said the project was scheduled in 2017 and funding was set aside in the 201828 longterm plan to complete the design for the cemetery extension to provide for future demand.

The next step was to develop the design, subject to funding confirmation in the 202131 longterm plan, she said.

Boffa Miskell Ltd was appointed to complete the concept development plan.

Senior principal Mark Brown joined the meeting via audiovisual link.

He told board members the design of the extension had been produced in line with the historic character of the operational cemetery.

The cemetery was established in 1865 and its original Victorian design was an intricate layout with eight sections divided by religious denomination.

That design was followed for a while before burial plots were arranged in a more linear pattern, which created the existing layout including a large area of unmarked graves.

With the advent of other gold mining centres throughout Central Otago, the cemetery was not developed to the full area proposed and burials were confined to the eastern half.

The development plan had been influenced by factors such as current and predicted burial trends, cultural requirements, the geography of the site, pedestrian and vehicle access, and Central Otago’s arid climate, Mr Brown said.

In her report, Ms Gordon said the cemetery had an average of 14 burials per year and 300 empty burial and ashes plots were available.

That meant the development of the extension area was not urgent but approving the plan before the site was required, cemented the structure for the site and would guide planning and decision making in the future, including when longterm plans were developed.

The concept did not bind the council to future budgets or timing, she said.