NEW figures show a controversial proposed cemetery in Huddersfield will cost more than expected – and have fewer plots.

Kirklees Council wants to develop a site near Castle Hill to relieve pressure on burial grounds across the town which are rapidly running out of space.

But a new report shows the cost of opening the cemetery at Hey Lane in Farnley Hey has risen by £246,000 – while the number of available plots at the site has fallen by 500.

Councillors will decide next week whether to submit the proposal to planners – with opponents of the new cemetery already coming forward.

Kirklees officers have drawn up the proposal to develop the nine-acre site at Farnley Hey because the council-run cemeteries at Almondbury and Lockwood will be full within two years.

The council estimated in June that developing the first acre of the new burial ground would cost £600,000.

But, following tests on the land, a new report this week put the start-up costs at £846,000.

The council’s so-called Phase 1 plan includes:

500 lawn burial plots

A Muslim burial area for 200

An infant burial area

Improvements to access roads

Internal roads and parking for 60 cars and two coaches.

Developing the rest of the site would cost an extra £54,000.

The Environment Agency has demanded a 30-metre exclusion zone to prevent water contamination – meaning the number of plots across the site would drop from 8,000 to 7,500.

A council spokesman explained yesterday why the price of the development had risen.

“The original cost figure was an estimate prior to site investigations,” he said.

“The figure of £846,000 is a fully costed design taking into account the results of site investigations and the Environment Agency’s comments.

“Of this, £54,000 is for setting up Phase 1.

“The vast majority of the £846,000 cost is for parking, roads within the cemetery and landscaping – which is for the entire site and therefore the whole life of the cemetery.”