Machynlleth Town Council could become the burial authority for a new cemetery, if a deal can be agreed with Powys County Council to provide land.

The current Machynlleth cemetery is close to running out of space and there is a pressing need for a new facility in the town.

The town council had suggested it would be prepared to sell land it owned to Powys council, but the county council has said that is not something it can afford to do.

However, Powys council had said it would be able to provide a new cemetery if the town council was prepared to donate the land.

While the town council will consider that suggestion, council clerk Jim Griffiths said the town council could agree to become the burial authority for the cemetery, which would then see any income go to the town council.

He said: “There is the potential for us to reap the benefit and Machynlleth does need a new cemetery.”

There were concerns that the scale of work could prove to be too much. Cllr Rhydian Mason said: “There’s a lot of responsibility to this and I don’t think we can even consider this decision until we know what it would entail.”

However, Mr Griffiths said with only a small number of burials each year and IT systems in place, the difficulties in terms of running a cemetery were not as great as they were previously.

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