Northern Ireland crematorium: Plans for new facility at Moira are extended and could reach a total of 3,000 burial plots

NOTES TO EDITOR:

Moira is the location of NI’s third ever crematorium.

Pre-application plans for a 3k plot cemetery have been entered at council.

A public consultation will take place.

Over 3,000 burial plots could be set to be extended to Northern Ireland’s third ever crematorium plan as council graveyard spaces look to reach full capacity by next year. Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) has agreed a pre-application notice at its planning committee this week. The £1m proposal is for a cemetery extension and ancillary works including landscaping, internal access roads, and a railway underpass near the Lisnabilla Road, Moira. LCCC head of planning, Conor Hughes said: “This is the third part of a cemetery development. “It is due to be up for public consultation. “An earlier application for the cemetery was some years ago, but the full application never arrived, so it needed to be entered again.”

According to a LCCC cemetery strategy plan (2021-32), currently the only council graveyard that has space for new plot sales is Lisburn New Cemetery Extension at Blaris Road, with full capacity expected to be reached by 2024.

A new plan to extend a further 720 graves at the cemetery is anticipated to be completed next year.

Until recently, only one crematorium operated in Northern Ireland located at Roselawn and is within the LCCC boundary. However, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council opened Northern Ireland’s second crematorium on the Doagh Road, Newtownabbey in June following a £5m investment by the local authority. Planning permission for the Moira crematorium has already been granted at LCCC, with the intention that it will be privately operated. Though a plot of land has been cleared in the area, it is not clear how advanced the plans are. The public consultation on the cemetery extension plans to the Moira crematorium, which could require an environmental impact report, will take place at Maghaberry community centre on September 20.