- After 10 years of searching for a suitable site, the land at Horsley Hale Road was purchased in 2011/12.
- On the 14th April 2011, a meeting was arranged with the local Highways Department. As no objections had been raised, the purchase of the land proceeded at a cost of 68K, no architect or specialists were consulted to the suitability of the land from a Planning perspective.
- Following the 2015 elections, the new administration arranged a Cemetery Seminar to understand the requirements for a new cemetery, this took place in 2016.
- Following the seminar, it became obvious that a burial platform would need to be constructed, due to water levels and the slope on the land. It was also noted that a planning application was going to be complicated.
- In Oct 2017, a pre-app meeting with the ECDC Planning department was held. It was at this meeting, that we were informed, there was a live planning application, dating back to Feb 2012, that had a number of outstanding questions and requests for information unanswered.
- In Jan 2018 the Council appointed AJ Fleet to work as its agent and architect to progress the application.
- In 2018 the Council arranged an Archaeological dig but did not receive the report until 2019 (some 12 months later).
- The current build costs budget for the project is around £1.2 million.
- Thanks to the importation of the sub-soil, at no cost to the Town Council, the budget should be below this total cost, even when inflation is considered.
- A number of points have been raised on social media – the concrete in the sub clay has been raised a number of times, the Council has agreed with the contractor areas where this could be used and have also agreed how they will deal with any wrongly placed loads.
- The Council does have risk assessments and an agreement in place with FDS and it has also registered the site with Environment Agency.
- 12 months Ground water monitoring, drainage engineer design has been completed.
- All the requested documentation has been submitted to ECDC Planning Department in one package as requested by them.
- The latest request, asking for the reasons behind the purchase of the land have also been answered.
- The Council expects the Application to go to Planning Committee in the coming weeks.
- Plans are in place to speed up the availability of the land for burials, if the planning application is successful.
Chairman Clive Webber
Littleport Town Council