Woodland burial ground near Garstang gets council chop
A “green” cemetery, where trees replace headstones, has been refused by a council, seven years after it was first given the go-ahead.
Now the owner of Legacy Woodlands near Garstang is refusing to accept the plan is dead and buried, insisting: “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Susan Gutierrez-Inostroza (inset) is challenging the decision by council officers under “delegated powers.” She wants the scheme for Barnacre Burial Ground to be debated by Wyre Council.
“It has had planning permission before as a burial ground,” she said. “That was granted in 2013. But it was in two different fields, so we wanted to move the burial area to the centre of the site.
“I was shocked when council staff told me it had been turned down. It’s environmentally friendly for goodness sake.
"And who would turn down a plan to plant thousands of trees in the countryside? It’s bonkers.”
Legacy Woodlands in Long Lane, Barnacre, already offer “green” funerals for cremation ashes. Each interment or scattering is marked by the planting of a commemorative tree and a small plaque.
The land has already seen 3,500 memorial trees planted and eventually Susan is hoping for a woodland of 25,000 with around 2,000 burial plots.
But Wyre Council says the application would represent an “unacceptable and unnecessary encroachment” in the rural area and “reduce the openness of the countryside.” It points out the 2013 planning approval was given when policies were different.
Only two objections to the plan were received by the authority, including one from Barnacre Parish Council.