THE design of a controversial crematorium at Radcliffe Cemetery has been approved by planning bosses.

The decision to grant conditional approval was made at Tuesday's (Oct 22) meeting of the planning control committee and is the latest victory for the International Crematorium Company (ICC) which has been seeking to develop the site for five years.

Outline planning permission was given for an extension to the cemetery and for the erection of a crematorium on land at the north east of the cemetery back in 1997. Bury Council also gave the firm, then known as SCI, a 999-year lease on the site.

The company was supposed to submit applications for reserved matters, such as the design of the proposed £1.5 million crematorium by March 2000, but did not.

In January of this year Bury Council refused an application by the firm to extend the time limit but backtracked in March when ICC threatened to take the matter to a public inquiry.

This week councillors approved a traditional single storey crematorium complex that would occupy only a small proportion of the overall site. The remainder of the land would accommodate 71 car parking spaces, but the majority of the site would be laid out as a garden of remembrance and general landscaping.

They also approved an access route which would be the same as at present to the cemetery via Greenbank Road and along the top section of Cemetery Road. The bottom of Cemetery Road would remain closed to vehicles before the junction with Greenbank Road and traffic to the development would not be able to gain access from this direction.

The top section of Cemetery Road would be widened and a new footway would be created.

Residents have been fiercely opposed to the development claiming it would be too close to homes and that there is no actual need for a crematorium in the first place.

They also feel it will lead to an increase in traffic.