A PLAN to retrospectively give planning permission for part of the city's Muslim cemetery has received wide support.
The retrospective application for permission to use part of Worcester Muslim Cemetery in John Comyn Drive as burial land, which was submitted at the start of September, said the site had been in use since 2005 without planning permission.
More than 135 supportive comments have been submitted to the council from the city's Muslim community backing the plan, calling it much-needed as the cemetery is quickly running out of space.
Planners at Worcester City Council said the cemetery required the correct planning permission before plans for a 785-plot extension could be submitted.
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The city council said the application to extend the cemetery is currently being verified and will be made public later in October.
The council said planning permission was first granted in 1978 and renewed in 1983.
The part of the site which is currently the subject of a retrospective planning application has been in use since 2005.
The council said it could not comment on the application as it is ongoing.
Councillors first looked at plans to transfer ownership of the land from the city council to the nominated trustees - Worcester Muslim Welfare Association, the Al Madina Islamic Centre and The Jalalabad Association - in September 2010.
The council's cabinet backed the plans in July 2012 and the council approved the transfer in September 2012.
The expansion plans show how a new pavilion and a peace garden would all be built at the cemetery as well as a new building at its entrance to house a small office, mortuary, toilets and a washing area.
The cemetery would be extended in three phases if the plans were approved.
The first phase would see 172 burial plots built as well as the main building at the cemetery’s entrance and pavilion. The second phase to the north of the site would see a further 388 burial plots built before a third phase of 275 plots are built.
The extension would be built on overgrown scrub land which borders Droitwich Road allotments and Perdiswell golf course.
The plans can be viewed via the planning section of the city council’s website. Consultation ends on October 9. The application number is 19/00561/FUL.
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