A controversial plan to expand a graveyard onto a golf course will be decided next week as Bracknell could ‘completely run out of burial plots by early next year’.

Bracknell Forest Council would like to expand Easthampstead Park Cemetery and Crematorium onto the ‘pitch and putt’ area of Downshire Golf Complex.

Expanding onto the next-door facility would provide burial spaces for the next 25 years, with the borough set to run out of current spaces by mid-2025.

But plans sparked outrage from users of the facility, with hundreds opposing to the proposal on Bracknell Forest Council’s planning website.

Bracknell Forest Council’s cabinet are set to decide on the appropriation of land at the upcoming meeting on Tuesday, November 12.

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An executive report published ahead of the meeting says: “Officers have carefully considered whether it is in the public interest for the underlying development to proceed, and are satisfied that it is, as we are facing a critical shortage of burial space.”

It continues: “The lack of burial space is an issue that affects the entire community, especially for those whose cultural and religious beliefs require a burial.

“Without this extension, many residents would have to seek burial plots outside the borough, often at a significantly higher cost.”

The council argues that the golf facility ‘pre-empted’ the decision to expand after plans first emerged in 2020, and has introduced a new space for children and intermediate players elsewhere on the course.

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The two hectare pitch and putt land would provide a total of 1,173 full plots, as well as 150 Muslim burial plots and 1,168 cremated remains plots.

Every year, around 40 to 50 people are buried, meaning this would provide burials for residents for a further 25 years.

If no new spaces are provided, the authority will lose around £200,000 a year in maintenance costs, the report warns.

The council earns around £2 million per year from the cemetery, according to cabinet member for leisure, culture, public protection and democracy.

The executive report says that existing trees would be retained with more planted to ‘enhance the space while respecting the tranquillity and dignity that the cemetery provides for bereaved families’.

No other facilities at Downshire Golf Complex would be impacted according to the report, which states that there are ‘multiple alternative facilities nearby’.

These include Wokingham Family Golf, Golfplex, Lavendar Park and Billingbear Park Golf Course, all distanced four to five miles away.

All facilities have confirmed they have capacity to meet higher demand.

A decision will be made by the Cabinet on Tuesday, November 12, before further approval is required from the council’s planning committee.