Councillors approve plans to expand Fetteresso Cemetery

Work to expand the cemetery will be carried out over three phases.

Aberdeenshire Council noted that the current facility, located on the outskirts of the town, was “rapidly approaching full capacity” and decided to take action.

After looking for alternative sites for more than a decade, the local authority discovered that the field right next to the cemetery was for sale and successfully bought it.

With the land secured, the council created plans to extend the burial site and officially lodged its planning application last year.

Council chiefs believed the land had “numerous features” that would make it a good site for a graveyard.

Firstly, being located right next to the existing cemetery meant it would be easier to link the two sites together.

A new footpath will be created from the existing cemetery to the new extension to allow easier access for visitors.

Plus, it was deemed big enough to create a facility that would meet the needs of Stonehaven and surrounding areas for “years to come”.

As well as the additional burial plots, a car park will be added for 53 vehicles.

Rabbit proof fencing will be placed around the site to prevent any pests from disturbing the graves.

This comes after bones were found scattered around the nearby St Ciaran’s Kirkyard after animals were found to be burrowing “impressive holes” around the lairs.

Work to expand the cemetery will be carried out over three phases, the first of which could take around 42 years to complete.

This is based on the current burial rate in the existing cemetery, which sees around 38 burials carried out each year.

Meanwhile, families could be given the opportunity to buy a memorial bench that would be placed in the new graveyard.

The benches would be placed within areas with colourful planting to give mourning visitors a peaceful space to remember their lost loved ones.

Plans for the extension recently went before the Kincardine and Mearns area committee.

Councillor Dawn Black asked if there were any plans to reduce the existing 60mph limit on the surrounding road which she noted goes “very rapidly” into a 30mph before the cemetery entrance.

She was told that while this was not part of the planning application, it could be considered in the future by the local authority’s roads team.

But the expansion proposal was welcomed by the committee.

Councillor Alan Turner urged his fellow members to support it.

He said: “The town needs an extended cemetery.

"The cemetery is filling up and the land has been prepared previously for this purpose.

"I think it’s a reasonably good idea with the way it has been laid out.”

But it seems his fellow councillors felt the same way as the plan was unanimously approved.