Graveyard home scheme shelved (From Keighley News)

Graveyard home scheme shelved

9:28am Thursday 5th July 2012 in Keighley By Miran Rahman

The entrance to the old Oakworth Methodist cemetery

Latest plans to build a house at the entrance to an Oakworth graveyard have been shelved.

Landowner Paul Rose had wanted to locate the home, at Chapel Lane, on the same spot where the Methodist cemetery’s entrance wall and gates were demolished in 2008.

But Bradford Council has confirmed on its website’s planning section that the application had been withdrawn.

Councillor Peter Corkindale, who represents Oakworth on Keighley Town Council, said he understood this had been done at the applicant’s request.

He added: “I’m delighted that he’s withdrawn his application. The whole village was up in arms.

“But what we still have is the fact that the original entrance to the cemetery, the listed wall and gates, have not been replaced after being demolished. Bradford Council required that these be re-instated, but it still hasn’t been done.”

When phoned twice by the Keighley News for comment, Mr Rose said the phone calls amounted to harassment.

He also said that if the Keighley News contacted him again, he would report it to the police.

Opponents of the application argued that its proposed access road off Dockroyd Lane would have disturbed graves at the site.

One objector said his great grandfather was buried in the cemetery in the 1960s, so there would be legal and moral issues surrounding any move to build on burial plots.

Another local person said many of those buried in the graveyard had connections to living village residents, so it would be a disgrace to build over or remove bodies.

The plans were opposed by Keighley Town Council, which said an access road across the graveyard would be unacceptable.

Mr Rose had said the planned development would only affect the entrance to the cemetery and would not encroach on the graves.

A design statement said the new property would have been a stone-built, “family-sized” house with vehicle access from Dockroyd Lane.