Controversial plans for a multi-faith cemetery next to a golf course have been resurrected – a year after an identical application was rejected.
Campaigners thought they had won their battle against a 27-hectare burial ground on green-belt land next to Maylands Golf Club off the A12
They believed it would create chaos on the road and the nearby Brook Street roundabout and the project appeared to be dead in the water when Havering Council rejected Monument Property Investment’s proposals in February last year.
They said the cemetery would be detrimental to the open green belt land and spoil the view.
But now another submission has been made by a different developer, SRR Developments Ltd – and it’s almost identical to the one that was rejected.
The company is even using the same agents, Kemp and Kemp Ltd, for the project, which includes 22,165 graves.
Sid Hartman has been calling for safety work at the Brook Street roundabout for years.
He said: “My main concern is the impending traffic chaos but I do have reservations on having a cemetery on my doorstep. As I look out of my back door I will see buildings that would spoil any green belt pleasure I have.
“I cannot honestly understand how they have the bare faced cheek to request this again when it was thrown out only a short time ago – what has changed?”
Another campaigner, Jan Veness said residents already have to put up with horrendous traffic jams in the area, and the cemetery would only make it worse.
She also questioned the impact on the environment and the golf club, which hosts weddings and events on its grounds.
“Who would want to hold a wedding next to a burial ground?” she said. “If the golf course starts losing money then that will be ruined.”
Peter Smallwood of Kemp and Kemp Ltd, said he hoped the growing pressure brought on by the increasing population in east London would bring a different result to last time.
“The number of people aged 65+ by 2050 will increase by over 100 per cent,” he said. “There’s a great need.”
Maylands Golf Club declined to comment.
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