A PLAN to extend a cemetery in Tadley and increase the number of plots by more than 7000 is gathering pace. 

Tadley Town Council has accepted a quotation of £9,428 from the cemetery and crematorium development company CDS Group to undertake the ongoing groundwater monitoring as per a request from the Environment Agency, to see whether the plan is feasible. 

The proposal is to extend the Tadley cemetery, which has 80 burial plots remaining, southwards to accommodate 748 more burial plots.

According to the council, with approximately 16 deaths per year, on average, the current cemetery could serve residents and the surrounding villages for only five more years.

With the extension, the council believes, the cemetery would be future-proofed for approximately 92 years for double burial plots and 46 years for single plots.

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The plan is to extend by approximately 0.49ha (1.21 acres) towards the south of the current cemetery.

The site is part of a larger field that is currently used as a pasture and grazed by horses.

The proposed design includes a single phase of development, including an access via footpath into the site, burial plots, hedgerows and stock fencing boundary treatment.

There will be a pathway which will connect to the existing site via a gap in the hedging.

A new 1.2-meter post and rail fencing with native hedgerow planting surrounding the boundary will also be erected.

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According to plans, the burial plots that are not immediately used will be kept as grassland in the intermediary.

The council said in its planning statement that the development will not intrude on the quality of the landscape and it will be able to accommodate the proposed changes without significant detrimental effects on its essential characteristics.

It also said there will be a net gain in hedgerow habitat which will contribute towards increasing its ecological value in the long term.

According to the planning statement, travel impacts associated with residents reaching an alternative cemetery or new site will be minimised by extending the existing site.

The works will only begin if the town council gets approval from the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.