New cemetery to offer wider choice with 'green' burials

The Lord Mayor of Hull Coun Karen Woods will officiate at the opening of Priory Wood Cemetery on Monday.

The cemetery, just outside Cottingham, in the East Riding, will cater for about 13,000 interments. Most of the cemetery space in west Hull is now full up, with just a couple of hundred spaces available.

As well as accommodating traditional burials, the new site will allow "green" burials in biodegradable coffins, and provide space for Muslim burials, where all graves will face Mecca.

Biodegradable coffins will be buried with a non-biodegradable small plastic tube containing a microchip to allow each grave to be identified. This will record the name and age of the deceased, which can be checked against a grid reference identifying the plot.

The cemetery will also offer "lawn burials" in which a discreet headstone is laid horizontally on the ground, and an area for infant burials has also been built.

The project is 18 months behind schedule, which the council has blamed on factors including the landscaping company ceasing trading, a design change and delays to the connection of utilities.

The land also had to be allowed to settle for 12 months before burials could take place.

The development, just within the East Riding, but on land owned by Hull Council, has not been without controversy with people in Cottingham, the country's largest village, complaining that precious green belt dividing them from the city of Hull was being encroached on.

East Riding Council went against the advice of its officers when it refused to back Hull Council's plans.

The city council appealed, and a public inquiry found in its favour.