THE Muslim community has offered to pay for a designated burial site following protests about Asian funerals causing chaos at a council cemetery.

A funeral cortege and grieving relatives have been prevented from entering Blackburn Council's Pleasington Cemetery due to the sheer volume of mourners attending Muslim funeral services.

But now the Muslim Burial Committee, which includes mosque officials and community leaders, has written to Blackburn Council seeking a suitable piece of land.

Committee member Musa Ismail, head of the Islamic Relief to Bosnia organisation, said: "We would like to buy a piece of land which would be used for Muslim burials and for which we would be responsible.

"We feel that this would solve the problems which have been experienced at Pleasington Cemetery and help maintain the good community relations that have existed for almost 40 years."

Mr Ismail said the committee were hoping to secure a site of between six and 10 acres. He added: "We are willing to pay whatever the asking price might be." Tom Wilson, Blackburn Council's head of outdoor amenities, has promised to do his utmost to resolve the problems at Pleasington.

He said he hoped the council could provide car park which would ease the congestion at the existing cemetery.

However Mr Ismail believes the problems have been worsened by traffic using Pleasington playing fields.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph revealed how council rangers prevented a funeral cortege from entering a cemetery because it was overflowing with Muslim mourners.

The cars were held up on the approach road to Pleasington Cemetery, Blackburn, while hundreds of Asian mourners attended a burial.

Relatives wanting to lay flowers on family graves were also turned away on a number of occasions by "self-appointed" Muslim stewards.

Today a spokesman for Blackburn Council said all applications for new cemeteries had to be considered by the Home Office.

He added that the council had not yet received the written request but would pass it on to the proper authorities when it arrived.

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