Bracknell golf course to become graveyard
The council is going ahead with a plan to use a pitch and putt course to create more burial spaces
Last updated 5th Feb 2025
Planning bosses are set to approve the expansion of a graveyard onto its next door golf course – despite more than 400 residents objecting to the scheme.
The controversial plan to use the pitch and putt area at Downshire Golf Complex to expand Easthampstead Park Crematorium and Cemetery will go to Bracknell Forest Council’s planning committee next week.
Council leaders voted to appropriate the land back in November after warnings that the borough would run out of burial spaces by mid-2025.
It would result in a loss of the existing 9-hole pitch and putt, used by more than 150 children a week.
The two-hectare land would provide a total of 1,173 full plots, as well as 150 Muslim burial plots and 1,168 cremated remains plots.
It is estimated to provide burial space for a further 25 to 30 years.
Bracknell Forest Council says it would build a new road within Easthampstead Park Cemetery to allow for access to the new graves, which would require the removal of some hedge.
A total of 407 residents have objected to the scheme, arguing that the loss of playing space would hinder the local sporting community.
Many worried that this would set a precedent for more of the golf course to be taken over in the future.
Others said it would negatively impact young and disabled golf players, who are frequent users of the intermediate pitch and putt area.
Bracknell Town Council has urged the borough council to find an alternative site for the pitch and putt area – while Crowthorne Parish Council has objected to the scheme altogether.
Under planning law, land used for leisure purposes shouldn’t normally be converted for different uses, unless it’s replaced by an ‘improved facility’ elsewhere.
But 27 letters of support have been received by the council on the scheme, many arguing that the new space will be a ‘much-needed facility for the Muslim Community’, who’s faith requires burial after death.
Council leaders said last year there was ‘no alternative’ to using Downshire Golf Complex.
At a cabinet meeting in November, assistant director of contract services Damien James said other potential sites were ‘either unviable or not in the council’s ownership, which would mean purchasing additional land, making it uneconomic.’
Paul Bidwell, cabinet member for economy and regeneration, said the plans were ’emotional’ but that they ‘don’t really have any alternative’.
Leader of the council Mary Temperton said: “It isn’t just for the dead…it is for the living relatives, a place where you go and feel near.”
A decision on the planning approval for the scheme will be made on Thursday, February 13, before a final decision is taken by the Cabinet.