THE cost of extending Northallerton's cemetery looks certain to be far higher than first thought.

The sum could be as much as 400pc more than initial estimates of £70,000.

This could be a headache for the joint burial committee which runs the cemetery for the parishes of Northallerton and Romanby.

Calculations show the cemetery has only another two or three years' space left.

The new situation emerged during a joint meeting of Northallerton Town Council and Romanby Parish Council, which each have four members on the joint burial committee.

Options for dealing with the cost are higher burial fees and/or a higher precept. As a last resort, the cemetery could be closed.

But the meeting was told by a former committee member that even to think of such a move would be "a betrayal of the people".

The meeting was called by the Mayor of Northallerton, Coun Tony Hall, in the wake of line-up changes on both councils and therefore the committee.

A detailed scheme for the cemetery extension was tabled.

A joint statement later said: "These new recommendations will have to come before the burial committee. The eight members will have to consider the issues and report back to their councils, which will have to decide on the implications of the cost of providing burial facilities in an extended cemetery.

"Current estimates will hopefully be revisited with a view to getting the best possible cost to achieve our goal, which is to provide this facility for residents.

"It will be necessary to raise considerable finance either through fees or the precept.

"In the current fee structure and precepts the estimated cost was about £70,000.

"At a joint meeting of the councils, revised and updated figures were presented and it is obvious further discussions are going to be needed to resolve this situation."

Coun Hall said the burial committee budget for this year this was £87,000. As well as having responsibility for burials, it handles upkeep and the cemetery lodge and chapels.

"We bury about 50 people a year and at this rate there is two to three years' left in the cemetery before it is full," he said, adding that the councils did not have a duty to bury people.

There is planning permission to extend the site and it is reckoned around 1,400 people could be buried in the extension, giving about an extra 25 years. In a previous burial committee report, the cost was put at around £70,000.

Northallerton pledged £27,720 from its precept, but in January decided there were issues which needed sorting out and said £14,000 would be kept back.

Romanby chairman Coun John Smith said around £18,000 had been earmarked in the precept as the parish's share.

"We had no reason to question the figures. We had total faith in the members we had appointed to the committee," he said.

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