Church hoping to expand graveyard withdraws plans

St Mary's Church in Chidham, Cot Lane applied for the extension in February this year but asked for the application to be withdrawn on July 25.

In the application, the church expressed its need for a larger graveyard and said: "The recently retired vicar of Chidham Parish received regular calls from members of the local community expressing some anxiety that 'when the time comes' there will be no place for their burial within local consecrated ground.

"Clearly this was a concern to him, to the parochial church council and to the community in both the ecclesiastical and civil parishes. It would be a great loss to the church and the local community if the graveyard were to face closure."

The graveyard at the church is almost full and the church says there is only space for four burial plots on the site. It expected to be completely full by the end of this year.

Chichester District Council has allocated a Community Infrastructure Levy Grant to Chidham and Hambrook Parish Council, some of which is expected to be used towards financing the project.

After receiving two quotes for environmental assessments the Parochial Church Council realised it did not have the funds to cover the cost of the assessment so asked for the application to be withdrawn

For more information on the application, visit: 19/00499/FUL