'Green' burials for Sheepdrove?

West Berkshire Council planners have received an application from farm manager Dan Bull to convert an area known as Triangle Wood to a burial ground.
A statement accompanying the application envisages “approximately 15 natural burials a year” to begin with, but notes that this figure is expected to increase after the third year.
Natural burial is the internment of the body in the soil in a manner that does not inhibit decomposition but allows the body to recycle naturally.
It is an alternative to other, contemporary Western burial methods and usually does not involve embalming chemicals or use of metal coffin attachments.
In some instances, coffins are made of natural fibres.
The application states: “The Environment Agency considers that the planning application is no threat as we are 215m above sea level.”
It adds: “The number of people attending each internment will vary from a small number to (an estimated) 50 people. A small number of people will visit the site after the internment but, as no flowers etc are allowed on site, they will just be walking around.
“There will be no more cars for an internment than for a conference held at the (Sheepdrove Eco) Conference Centre. We have parking by the proposed burial ground for about 10 cars and parking for 150 cars at the Conference Centre.”
The application concludes: “The car park at the Conference Centre will also be used by staff, as it is now. Conferences, weddings etc will not be booked for the same day as an internment.”
A woodland management plan has been devised with the help of the Forestry Commission and an Archaeological Survey was commissioned.
The latter concluded that, while the north eastern point of the proposed site had potential archaeological assets of Iron Age and Roman provision, the rest of the area was devoid of such material.
West Berkshire already has a natural burial site at Acorn Ridge in Newbury.
Set amid lush green fields and trees, Acorn Ridge provides “fully maintained burial and ash plots, with or without memorial trees.”
No date has been scheduled for a decision by planners on the Sheepdrove application.
Meanwhile comments, for or against, can be registered by visiting West Berkshire Council website’s planning section and using the reference code 14/00003/COMIND