Campaigners of a massive petition asking for Sandbach Cemetery to be extended has been presented to Cheshire East Council ahead of a committee meeting in September when its plight will be discussed.

And a member of the Environment and Communities committee which will be discussing the matter on September 9th is calling for a review and for the issue to be looked into properly.

Congleton MP Fiona Bruce presented the "Save Sandbach Cemetery" petition to the House of Commons recently and now campaigners have handed over the 5,569 names to leader of Cheshire East, Councillor Sam Corcoran.

Ann Nevitt and other campaigners gathered outside Cheshire East's headquarters, Westfields in Sandbach to formally hand the petition to Cllr Corcoran and verse their opinions.

Ann, who organised the 10 week campaign, said it had been a "huge relief". "It was wonderful to see so many people turn out to support us. We're going to win."

Cheshire East Cllr Mike Benson (Town Ward), is a member of the Environment and Communities Committee which will discuss the petition in September.

He told Nub News: I believe the land next to the cemetery has always been earmarked to be an extension. There's been a 40 per cent increase in population and a lot of people want to be cremated.

"It's not about political point scoring. It should be reviewed and looked into correctly. Mourners want to go and have a quiet moment. People feel strongly about this and that should be respected."

Cllr Corcoran said: "The current issue is whether the cemetery should be expanded onto the

adjoining football pitch and I am very pleased to receive the petition.

"I hope that the issue will be discussed at the Environment & Communities

Committee meeting on 9 September 2021."

Sandbach Cemetery has only eight years of capacity remaining, according to projections from Cheshire East Council which would see anyone wishing to be buried taken to Crewe or Macclesfield.

At the Sandbach Town Council on 1 July, the Mayor, Councillor

Geraint Price Jones had asked for an item on the cemetery to be added to the

agenda.

A member of the public questioned why and when the Cheshire East Council

Cemeteries Strategy had been changed. The facts around the change in policy were set out:

In July 2018 Cheshire East Council Cabinet voted to approve the draft

Cheshire East Cemeteries Strategy and Cheshire East Cemeteries Regulations for the basis of public consultation and to delegate

authority to the Executive Director – Place, in consultation with

the Portfolio Holder for Environment to finalise and publish the final

strategy and cemetery regulations, taking account of the

representations received during the consultation exercise.

The consultation responses were never referred back to the Cabinet

because authority to 'finalise and publish' the cemeteries strategy had been

delegated to the Executive Director – Place in consultation with the Portfolio

Holder for Environment (Cllr Don Stockton). The consultation was held in late 2018