Green burials at Torfaen's new cemetery

Work is due to start on a new £1.7 million cemetery in Torfaen next week.

Development of the site at Hollybush Heights, Cwmbran, is scheduled to begin on Monday with the aim of opening it in 2010/11.

A Torfaen Council application for the cemetery was rubber stamped at a planning meeting last month.

Plans for the site were drawn up because there is only three years capacity left in the Council's current cemetery, Panteg in New Inn.

Green burials and more conventional ceremonies will be offered at the Council-owned site.

The cemetery will also include woodland and meadow areas.

Councillor John Cunningham, Executive Member for Operational Services, welcomed news that work was about to start.

"We are confident that we will create a very peaceful, unique site that will meet our requirements for the next 50 years," he said.

"Again, I would like to thank residents for helping us shape the plans."

Last year, after listening to residents' views during a public exhibition, the Council agreed to move the access road into the site.

The road will now be built across Council-owned land to the east of Hollybush View rather than the original proposal through a housing estate at Cefn Milwr.

Further public consultation, via a competition, saw Llwyncelyn, Welsh for Hollybush, picked as the name for the site.

The Council's consultation over the cemetery was hailed as best practice during a recent Charter Mark assessment.

To view plans for the cemetery visit the Community & Living area of the Torfaen website.