Burial plots fall foul of housing demand

Elderly inhabitants of Market Weighton are increasingly concerned they will not get a plot in the town where they have lived all their lives.

Deputy Mayor Peter Hemmerman said: “It is distinctly possible that people in Market Weighton will not be able to be buried there. They will have to be buried in Hull or York. It is just a thing that has been going on so long and I don’t think anyone realised how fast the situation was developing.”

The town council has been in lengthy negotiations with the owner of land next to the cemetery who wants to build houses there. They hope to sign a contract giving the developer access through the council caretaker’s garden in exchange for an extension to the cemetery and a Garden of Remembrance. But Mr Hemmerman said it could be a year before the situation was resolved – and there were less than five plots left.

He said: “All the land round Market Weighton has been allocated for building and that puts it out of price for everybody. Everyone who has a piece of land doesn’t want to sell it for £5,000 when they could sell it for a couple of million for housing.”