A NEW cemetery to be built in Derry will provide 20 years of burial space for the city, its local authority has claimed.
Space has been acquired for a new cemetery site on Mullenan Road near the Co Donegal border, Derry City and Strabane District Council have confirmed.
He said the acquisition was made after “more than 10 years of extensive work by council teams to define, research, investigate and assess a number of sites on the west side of the city”.
Last year the council warned it was rapidly running out of burial space, with an estimate made that just over 4,500 plots were available across all cemeteries in the district.
He said the City of Derry cemetery in Lone Moor Road had just 400 plots left and warned they could run out of space there in three years.
The town cemetery, which opened in 1853, is the final resting place of famous citizens, including late politicians John Hume and Martin McGuinness.
Along with the new cemetery site, plans are underway to create space for an additional 1,000 plots at Derry City Cemetery.
A council spokesman said this week of the new site: “Following extensive reports and technical assessments, it has been agreed that the Mullenan Road land is the most suitable land for this development. major.”
They added: ‘This new cemetery would allow for a minimum 20 year burial capacity with the potential for further expansion into adjacent lands.’
