A bid to create a dedicated Muslim cemetery on land in Midlothian to give families the chance to be buried together for the next 100 years has been launched by a Scottish charity.
The Edinburgh-based WAFA Foundation has applied for planning permission to create the new cemetery on land lying between the King’s Gate and Lothian Bridge at Newbattle.
Plans for the site reveal it could accommodate more than 2000 plots with additional land offering a further 3,000 in the years ahead.
A supporting statement lodged with Midlothian planners says it could serve the Lothians’ growing Muslim community for 100 years with an estimated 50 burials a year.
In the statement on behalf of applicants WAFA they say the Scottish Muslim Funeral Services which was founded in 2013 has worked extensively with all of the local authorities within Edinburgh and the Lothians to identify and secure suitable plots for burials within the expanding Muslim community.
They say over the last few years, it has become increasingly difficult to find readily available plots where people can be interred quickly as is required by their faith.
And they say the new cemetery will allow families to be buried together instead of being placed in different council run cemeteries across large areas.
The plans lodged with the council would involve accessing the land through the King’s Gate, a Category B Listed archway built for a visit by King George IV to Newbattle Abbey in the early 19th century.
The abbey itself was founded in the 12th century by monks before becoming a stately home and then educational institute.
The land is owned by Lothian Estates although the applicants say that a deal to take ownership by WAFA is pending.
They say: “The current site at King’s Gate, Newbattle, has been acquired subject to the necessary consents being granted, under the name of the WAFA Foundation who are the charity which will own and operate the new cemetery.
“Their office is based in The Scottish Muslim Funeral Service’s office in East London Street (Edinburgh).”
Muslim burials in the UK are governed by Islamic law (Sharia) and must be conducted according to certain requirements including a burial as soon as possible, preferably within 24 hours; bodies facing the direction of Mecca, ritual washing and shrouding in white cloth before burial. Cremation is forbidden.
The new cemetery will include the erection of funeral building to oversee the burials and car parking facilities.
The full plans are available to view on the Midlothian planning portal.
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
