WORK on a new cemetery which should serve Dunbar for the next 50 years could get under way by the end of the year.

East Lothian Council is expected to lodge plans for a new cemetery south of the A1087, on the eastern edge of the town, later this month.

It comes as the number of lairs at Deer Park Cemetery, opposite where the proposed new burial ground would be sited, reaches a dangerously low figure.

Ward councillor Norman Hampshire stressed the importance of new burial spaces being created in the town.

Mr Hampshire, chairman of the council planning committee, was unable to comment on the merits of any specific application because of his role on the committee.

But he said: “I have been told by officers, early next year there will be no spaces available in the cemetery.

“It would mean people in the community would need to be buried outwith the town, which would not be acceptable to people. There is a desperate need for [a new] cemetery within Dunbar.”

The proposed new cemetery comes as part of a controversial planning application approved by the planning committee last year.

More than 100 houses are set to be built on land at Newtonlees Farm, despite the site being outwith the sites identified at that stage by the council’s Local Development Plan and recommended for refusal by planning officers.

Mr Hampshire ultimately had the casting vote on the Gladman Developments scheme after the vote at the council meeting was tied at 4-4.

He said: “The original proposal had been to extend the existing cemetery.

“However, when the consent was given for a housing development along with the golf course at Dunbar Golf Club, the land was not secured at that time by the council.

“There have now been more burials in the cemetery and the way the layout is the bit of land that was available to purchase would not have created the substantial extension that would have been viable for the future in Dunbar.

“That is why the council had to look at alternative sites to create a new cemetery.

“The two cemeteries are very close to each other.

“There will be parking still available in the old Deer Park site and some new parking created within the new cemetery.

“I think the two will work well together and be a cemetery which is available for a long number of years and satisfy the needs of the Dunbar community.”

Deer Park Cemetery opened in 1953 and is expected, according to East Lothian Council, to reach capacity by the summer of 2020.

There are a total of 1,300 lairs in Deer Park cemetery, which are expected to be full within 18-24 months.

A spokeswoman for the council said: “The size of the proposed cemetery is approximately 1.2 hectares offering 2,000 lairs, 700 ashes-only lairs and an area for woodland burial. Its ‘life expectancy’ is approximately 50 years.”