ALMOST £2.4 million will be spent on extending a Bradford cemetery, as work begins to find more burial space in the city.

Bradford Council first revealed plans to increase the size of Bowling Cemetery late last year.

And at a meeting of the Council’s Executive on Tuesday members will be asked to approve £2.38m for the works to go ahead, as well as looking for other sites for new cemeteries.

In total the Council plans to spend almost £6m on boosting cemetery provision in the coming years.

Late last year the Council announced that it wanted to begin burials on vacant land that was purchased alongside the cemetery over 140 years ago, but never used.

The Council said: “The land was purchased for burial in the late 1880’s and its only now that the land needs to brought into and laid out as a cemetery.”

A report to Tuesday’s Executive members will be told that the £2.38m will be used to for “necessary access infrastructure, site levelling and associated drainage.”

Work is likely to start later this year and be completed next Spring.

Members will be given details of the plans for further cemeteries in Bradford.

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The report says that as well as the Bowling Cemetery extension, the programme will involve “the establishment of a new cemetery, likely to be on Council owned land and the acquisition of land to allow further and larger cemeteries to be established.”

The final phase will be the “development of a major new cemetery to deliver long term capacity beyond 2050. This will require further planning consents and funding approval.”

It adds: “There are extremely limited options for significant burial activity within the District other than that provided by the Council.

“There is diminishing burial capacity within the Muslim Burial Ground at Scholemoor and no known suitable existing space within ‘south of district’ cemeteries other than Bowling.”

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “We are investing significantly in the future of bereavement services because we want to modernise our existing facilities and ensure that we create additional capacity.

“We want make sure we provide good quality, sympathetic and beautiful surroundings for many years to come for residents when they say goodbye to their loved ones. It’s such an important time for people.”

Councillor Imran Khan, Deputy Leader and councillor for Bowling & Barkerend, said: “As a ward councillor for Bowling & Barkerend I’m particularly pleased to see the investment in Bowling cemetery. It’s good to see the investment in this important site coming through.”