A TETBURY councillor has spoken out against an application to turn land planned for a burial ground extension into a village green.

Tetbury Town Council late last year made an application to Cotswold District Council for a change of use to turn the plot of land, which runs parallel to the current burial ground by St Saviour’s Church, into burial space.

The town is facing a shortage of burial space, with a maximum of 34 graves remaining by the church, enough space for an estimated three years.

The application on the 0.15 hectares of land owned by the town council is estimated to provide room for up to 300 graves. It is anticipated that the extension will give the town 30 additional years of space.

It was made known to the town council on Monday that an application to turn the land into a village green, thereby protecting it from development, had been made to Gloucestershire County Council.

Town councillor Colin Pearce slammed the application on Facebook group, Old Tetbury.

In a post on the group, he called the applicant “mindless” and accused them of ‘trying to stop the much needed burial extension for Tetbury’.

He continued: “People coming into the town over the last 20 years may not understand this if they have no family or history with St Saviour's burial ground.

“As a town councillor along with other councillors we are dismayed at this action to attempt to stop the much needed burial extension.”

He told the Standard that progress on the burial extension could be held up for at least four months.

He said: “I have requested the individual to retract the application and support the needs of the people of Tetbury. As a council we are trying our best to find solutions for sports areas and for a much needed burial ground.

“The town council are actively looking for grass areas, along with sports clubs. At the end of the day, the land belongs to the council.

“Tetbury has so many village greens. This is just somebody trying to stop people getting a much needed area for burial.

“As a Tetbury person, I feel they have violated the people of Tetbury, the people that have their loved ones in that burial ground, and undermining the local council who at last are using that land as burial ground rather than having other committees claim it.

“I am personally disgusted that an individual or individuals can do that and undermine people’s wishes of Tetbury.”

Mayor of Tetbury Stephen Hirst was confident that the burial extension could still progress: “Everybody has a legal right to do that if they object to a development. It was fashionable five years ago.

“The county council said it should not affect the progress of the planning application. That is still going forward. It’s a bit of a nuisance that we’ll overcome.

“We don’t think it will be successful. And we may be able to achieve an agreement before then.”

A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council, confirmed: “Gloucestershire County Council, as commons registration authority, has received an application to register an area of land in Tetbury as a new town or village green.

“The application is currently going through a validation process before we decide on the next steps”.

UPDATE: The application to turn the plot of land in Tetbury into a village green has been withdrawn.