New Cemetery And Park For Wenvoe
ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST
NEW CEMETERY AND PARK FOR WENVOE
A major step in the development of Wenvoe Community was taken by Wenvoe Community Council at its April 2026 meeting, when the Council approved the full business plan for the provision of a Cemetery and nature reserve at the Whitehall Quarry site in Wenvoe. This plan has now been submitted to The Vale of Glamorgan Council under the Community Asset Transfer process. This scheme provides for the transfer of assets of a local authority to Community Councils at no cost and for the public benefit of a community.
This project was conceived in the mid 1990’s when the Whitehall Quarry access road was planned.
The need for extra cemetery space was becoming apparent as the existing cemetery was running out of capacity to meet forecast demand. There was an opposition movement to Whitehall Quarry access road by a small number of residents, but the Community Council was united in supporting the plan to fill Whitehall Quarry with inert waste materials and return the site to agricultural use, and remove an eyesore to the community with its evident danger.
The Vale of Glamorgan Council with Welsh Office support approved the application with an anticipated 10-15 year lifespan to fill the quarry. In practice the quarry was not deemed to be full until 2020, meanwhile the original owner RMC was taken over by Cemex. RMC constructed the access road and Cemex own the filled in quarry site. The access road was given consent over land, formerly Caewal farmland, bought by the Vale of Glamorgan Council much earlier. The access road was only given consent until the quarry was filled in, after which it had to be returned to agriculture.
Only since 2020 has the Community Council actively moved to develop the site, which is approximately 14 acres in total, to the original intention. The original plan was to retain the access road, to transfer the land to the Community Council which is the statutory burial authority for Wenvoe, to include a carpark, formerly adopt the upper orchard field as a nature reserve and create a recreational park with footpaths from Wenvoe and Twyn yr Odyn.
Many of you will know of the sterling work of Bruce McDonald and his group (The Wildlife Group) conserving and maintaining the natural meadow of the orchid field. Placing the ownership of the orchid field with the Community Council will greatly enhance its status and protection.
Although the Community Council has been developing the takeover of the access road site since 2020, much work has been going on behind the scenes in support of this project since its conception in 1995. The Vale of Glamorgan Council planning department has always been supportive but could not go public on this as it was beyond their forward planning period. The Director of Environment and Economic Regeneration always gave his support in letters discussing this. Special mention must be given to Phil Morant, former Clerk to the Council who was excellent in his role and an active supporter. Also, supportive was Richard Millard, Regional Director of RMC, the initial operator of the infill scheme and owner of the access road.
The project is now being managed by Cllr Paul Freeman, who is Chairman of the Wenvoe Rural Action Advisory Committee. This project is of major significance for the village and is one of three major developments over the last 50+ years by your Community Council. It ranks alongside the acquisition of the Station Road playing field and the acquisition of the old school and its site, now the Community Centre, Library/Hub and carpark both in the early 1970’s.
At a future date when detail is settled and planning permission applied for; a plan of detail will be made available in What’s On.
Cllr Mike Harvey