Planning permission has been given for a new graveyard adjacent to Tartaraghan Presbyterian Church, Portadown, to include 179 plots, an internal vehicular access road and associated site works.
Although the rural site is located outside a designated settlement area, ABC Planning officers acknowledged in their report that the new graveyard would serve a real need: “The application site adjoins an existing Presbyterian church, which is an existing community facility in the countryside.
“The proposed graveyard will be an ancillary part of the overall church development, so is essentially an expansion of the existing community development.
“Officers are satisfied there is a need for a graveyard and therefore, the creation of a new graveyard in association with the existing church facility is deemed to be a necessary community facility to serve the local rural population.
“When viewed from wider vantage points across in the area, the graveyard area will appear as a natural progression of the existing church buildings.
“Its integration is assisted by landform and the existing boundary treatment.
“Additional planting is also proposed along the northern boundary and within the site, in the form of hedging and mature trees.
“Officers consider the visual impact of the development therefore acceptable.
“The proposed graveyard will have a servicing access via the existing parking and church access points.”
