The proposal for the new building near The Mound

PLOT owners at Highgate Cemetery say they are wary that plans to build near the historic Mound section of the burial ground will come back.

The New Journal reported last month how a bid to add new gardeners’ facilities, including a toilet, had been cancelled amid a backlash among those who said the new building would be too close to the last resting places of their loved ones.

But trustees have now created a “special working group” to discuss what to do next amid a wider £18million restoration project.

The Mound is on the east side of the cemetery and nearly 200 people are buried there.

The Cemetery Trust, led by chief executive Ian Dungavell, wrote to grave owners this month saying that the new group included Mound grave owners, as well as other stakeholders, and would “explore and evaluate all potential solutions for future gardeners’ facilities.”

The Trust has promised impartial facilitation, representative membership and a non-pre-determined open process.

But members of the Association of Grave Owners of the Mound Highgate Cemetery (GOM) feel sceptical.

Patrick Kiernan, its chair, whose son Felix’s grave is in the area, said: “The special working group is basically a way of delaying and overwhelming the grave owners of the Mound.

“We have said we would join that group only if it was restructured and balanced and under conditions that there should be no discussion about a building on the Mound as well as expertise being brought in about the technical options we presented for other sites.”

He added the grave owners feared that another planning application could be sneaked in.

“No matter what we do to try and influence the special working group, we will be completely outmanoeuvered.”

Pamela Miles, the widow of actor Tim Pigott-Smith, added: “It’s very disconcerting. Even though the application for the gardeners’ building has been dropped, it hasn’t gone away.

“All it means is that if the rest of it goes through and they get the Lottery money, then they will try again and put the gardeners’ building wherever they want to, so we’re just hanging, waiting.”

A spokesperson for the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust said: “We recognise the strong feelings expressed by some grave owners regarding the previously proposed gardeners’ building. In response, we have removed it from our current planning application to enable the wider conservation masterplan to progress and secure essential National Lottery Heritage funding.

“To find the best solution, we are establishing a special working group – chaired by an independent facilitator – to explore all viable options in a transparent and collaborative manner. No decisions have been made, and both on- and off-site alternatives will be carefully considered, with heritage, operational and community concerns fully taken into account.

“We have invited the Association of Grave Owners of the Mound to nominate representatives to join the group, alongside other grave owners from across the cemetery, local residents and amenity societies. Grave owners will make up half of the 12-person group, reflecting their important role in shaping the future of the cemetery. Wider stakeholders will also have the opportunity to share their views throughout.”