Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council is placing a moratorium on sales of pre-purchase Right of Interments at Queanbeyan General Cemetery to ensure that local residents who need immediate burial options are prioritised.
'The Queanbeyan General Cemetery has serviced the Queanbeyan community and surrounds for a long time,' said General Manager Rebecca Ryan.
'Placing new sales of pre-purchase plots into this holding pattern, will ensure remaining plots will be available for the immediate needs of local residents and that we can honour existing reservations.'
In recent years, as the Lanyon Drive facility was filling, Council has conducted an audit of existing reservations, repurchased redundant reservations, reclaimed laneways, and removed some unhealthy trees to increase capacity.
Some open space and a former farm dam on site are now being investigated for infill expansion of the current cemetery area.
Council has been progressing a proposal for a new Memorial Park at a site on the corner of Old Cooma Road and Burra Road, near Googong. After significant investigation and studies, the NSW Government approved a Planning Proposal to rezone the property in September 2021, which provides permissibility for a cemetery to be built with approval.
The next stages of the Memorial Park include developing a Master Plan and conducting further studies that will be required as part of a development application. Consultation with the community and stakeholders on the Master Plan for the Memorial Park will begin soon.
In the meantime, those with an existing plot at the Queanbeyan General Cemetery are guaranteed their reservation.
