Plans have been submitted to extend the cemetery at St James Church in Sutton because space is urgently needed to meet the local demand for burials.

Planning permission was granted in 2006 for an additional 140 burial plots at the church.

Now an application has been submitted to Cheshire East Council for an additional 150 spaces.

A design and access statement from planning consultant Peter Yates states: "The extended graveyard is nearly full, and additional space is urgently needed to accommodate the local demand for burials.

"The logical place for this new extension is adjacent to the existing graveyard. As well as a graveyard, a quiet area is to be provided and an improved access through to the existing Garden of Remembrance for the burial of ashes. Access to these areas will be off the access which runs through the 2006 extended graveyard."

In 2020 an application for an extension to the graveyard to provide a conservation and well-being garden was withdrawn following local opposition.

Before this latest application was submitted, a public meeting was held in St James Church in September 2021 to discuss the proposals.

A questionnaire was later delivered to 1,200 households in Sutton, Langley and Lyme Green, which are in the ecclesiastical parish. This indicated 73 per cent supported a graveyard extension, and 90 per cent a quiet area.

The planning document states: "The proposed development has three aspects, the most urgent of which is the provision of additional space for burials, in a community which is rapidly expanded."

It says the local plan, and other permissions, provide for approximately 500 new houses by 2030 in the parish of Sutton.

These are in addition to the existing 1,200 households and an ageing population.

Access by vehicles to the site will be off Church Lane and parking provided in the existing car park.

The report states: "No buildings are proposed and the presence of gravestones will have no adverse impact on the preservation of the openness of the Green Belt."

The closing date for comments is March 15 and the proposal is due to be determined by a planning officer under delegated authority.

Macclesfield: Click HERE to read the full planning application.

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