'One space left' for Muslim burials at Dewsbury Cemetery
Dewsbury Cemetery is said to be down to its final space for Muslim burials, as serious concerns continue to be raised by elected members.
At the start of last month, Dewsbury West ward councillor, Ammar Anwar (Community Alliance), said things had reached a “critical point” at the cemetery as spaces continued to dwindle.
The situation has continued to worsen, as leader of the Council, Cllr Carole Pattison confirmed that there were only “one or two” remaining plots last week.
As of last weekend, the cemetery is down to its final plot for Muslim burials, according to a representative of a local funeral service.
This has been branded “nothing short of a scandal” in a social media post by Coun Anwar.
The matter of Dewsbury’s burial provision was once again brought to the attention of cabinet last week. In response to a question from Coun Cathy Scott, who asked where Coun Pattison believed families should be burying their loved ones.
Councillor Pattison said that the council is still in the same position when it comes to burial space in North Kirklees.
She continued: “There is sufficient burial space in North Kirklees. It is true that the Muslim space in the Dewsbury Cemetery is running out, but there is £500,000 that is ringfenced to look for and to try to establish some more Muslim burial spaces.
"Some of that has been used in extending some plots and creating extra places, but the vast majority of it remains.
“It is not true, contrary to what anybody has to say, that officers have not been working on providing or looking for space in Dewsbury and in North Kirklees and there are ongoing negotiations with the private owners of the burial ground in Dewsbury and that should result in some spaces being available very soon, and there is work ongoing to ensure that in the longer-term, there will be more spaces.
“Meanwhile, it is not true to say that there are no spaces for burials in North Kirklees for Muslims or for anybody else of any or no faith.”
Councillor Pattison has previously said that council officers were due to bring options forward for increasing the amount of burial space “over the next few weeks”.
Though these are yet to be made available, which was another point of contention for Coun Scott.
Fears for the future of Dewsbury Cemetery’s “rapidly depleting” burial space have been swirling for years now.
In June 2023, a council report said that a new burial ground would be required as Dewsbury Cemetery would be full to new Muslim burials by the end of that year.
Despite this, the local authority maintained that there would be enough room to serve all faiths and none for at least six years, though this also considered the 600 spaces that are privately owned by the North Kirklees Muslim Burial Committee.
At this time, cabinet approved a half-a-million pound investment into more burial space for North Kirklees, with two possible sites said to have been identified, but these never came to fruition.