East Lothian Council must find a location for a new cemetery in Tranent soon before Tranent Cemetery gets full according to Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry councillor Colin McGinn.

At a meeting of Tranent and Elphinstone Community Council, the subject of Tranent Cemetery was discussed with the community council continuing to voice concerns about the cemetery getting full.

Concerns the cemetery was getting full were raised at the community council’s meeting in November last year.

Mr McGinn said that work was ongoing to find a solution to the problem but that no site had been found yet.

He said: “Work is ongoing to find somewhere and hopefully something is worked out soon.

“There have been a number of possible sites tested but nothing has been found that meets SEPA’s regulations in order to become a cemetery.

“Step one is getting a land owner that will let us use their site for a cemetery and step two is ensuring that land is suitable under SEPA regulations. So far nothing has been found that meets both steps.”

When quizzed on how long Tranent Cemetery could continue to operate before becoming full, Mr McGinn could not give an exact date but said that he expected it would be full in the next couple of years.

He said: “Somewhere must be found before the cemetery is full but a lot of land has been tested so far and is simply not suitable.”