Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council has granted planning permission for a cemetery on land beside Sandwell Park Golf Club in West Bromwich.
The plans, which also include car parking, provide for 2,721 plots on land between a local cemetery and the golf club, and the site borders the course’s 11th, 13th and 14th holes. The application includes a 30-space car park and was submitted by PE Property Twenty Nine.
Construction must start within three years. A parking review is required within 12 months of the first burial, and any changes must be approved and carried out before the cemetery can operate beyond 18 months. A biodiversity gain plan must be approved before work begins, along with a 30-year habitat management and monitoring plan, and extra trees, hedges and shrubs must be planted on the golf course. The council has also asked for surface-water drainage proposals to manage flood risk and protect groundwater, and for CCTV, secure cycle parking, waste storage, boundary details and external lighting. Before it opens, the cemetery must also have an ornamental fountain, sculpture or memorial garden.
Planning permission alone doesn’t let the cemetery operate: it also needs an Environment Agency permit unless it meets exemption criteria. The site is potentially archaeologically significant, so a written scheme of investigation is required before work starts.
A source of income for clubs?
The decision comes as clubs look for ways to make better use of spare land. Farmers Weekly reported in 2019 that members of the Association of Natural Burial Grounds charged about £1,000 a burial on average, with £600 for the plot and £400 for the interment. It said an acre could hold about 700 bodies, and that one burial a week could yield annual profits of £40,000. It advised budgeting at least £20,000 before any income arrives, and applying for as little land as possible at first, since business rates are based on potential burials.
Leedam Natural Burials, which manages ten sites with landowners, says such grounds can bring in considerably more income than regular agriculture, and are usually on land with no other viable use. For families, burial-ground costs for a natural burial commonly run from about £1,500 to £3,500.
The land would need to be suitable, and clubs would have to consider planning, permits and the effect on the course and members. In Kent, a funeral director’s bid for a natural burial ground opposite Sene Valley Golf Club in Hythe was welcomed by the club, although it is on land the club doesn’t own.
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