COUNCIL chiefs are to meet leaders of the Muslim community to discuss problems at Pleasington Cemetery.

Traffic congestion caused by hundreds of Asian mourners attending Muslim burials has prevented people from gaining access to the cemetery on several occasions.

Now Blackburn Council leader Malcolm Doherty is to lead a delegation to meet representatives of the Blackburn Council of Mosques at Blackburn Town Hall towards the end of this month.

It will be in private, but a council spokesman said other interested parties should be given a chance to voice their opinions at a future committee meeting.

A spokesman said: "We need to see what steps can be taken to ease problems of traffic congestion as soon as possible. "We fully understand the sensitive nature of this matter."

Members of the Muslim Community have already written to Blackburn Council asking to buy a suitable burial site of their own to ease the problems.

A funeral cortege and people hoping to tend family graves have been refused entry to the cemetery by council staff and self-appointed Asian stewards during a number of Muslim funerals, which traditionally attract large numbers of people.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph has been contacted by ten people with loved ones buried at the cemetery, demanding that it does not happen again.

Their spokeswoman said the council should give immediate assurances that access would not be affected in future.

She added: "Let us remind all concerned that anyone has the right to visit the cemetery within the hours set out by the council.

"It is Blackburn Council's duty to ensure access for all, not in weeks or months. We have waited long enough."

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