Contractor sought for new £2.1m cemetery outside Larne

The new cemetery was approved by the council’s Planning Committee in May 2022.

The 15-acre site consists of two fields, opposite 382 Old Glenarm Road on the right side of the road towards Ballygally. It is expected to be able to facilitate almost 4,000 plots with capacity for 25 years.

It is anticipated there will be 180 burials annually with a maximum of three per day and a “gap of 90 minutes between funerals”.

McGarel Cemetery, at Old Glenarm Road is already at capacity and Greenland Cemetery at Upper Cairncastle Road, Craigyhill, will reach capacity in less than five years.

The new cemetery will include a memorial garden, 140 parking spaces, public toilets including a changing places facility for disabled users, a staff building with access to the site by a new right-hand turning lane at Old Glenarm Road. A bus stop is also included in plans.

The council has said the cemetery is being developed as a “long-term strategy”, noting a “general shortage of burial capacity in the area“ as an over-riding need has been demonstrated”. There were five objections to the proposal received by the council’s planning department.

The contract for the provision of a municipal cemetery will include new burial plots, paths and foundations to support the development of future staff facilities including public toilets and maintenance buildings.

Previously, a site at Brustin Brae Road in Larne had been under consideration. The plan was shelved in 2015 after a number of issues were investigated following a groundwater survey at the proposed location.