A $30 million proposal from the not-for-profit Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (CMCT) to build a new 113-hectare cemetery near Campbelltown at Varroville has been unanimously supported by the Joint Regional Planning Panel.
The Macarthur Memorial Park will create 136,000 burial spaces to alleviate Sydney's impending shortage of burial sites.
The plots thicken: An artist's impression of the proposed Macarthur Memorial Park.
The demand for cemeteries remains high, but supply is low for suitable land.
According to a study by Urbis Research, western Sydney will run out of burial sites for its quickly growing population by 2042, if no new cemeteries are built over the next two decades.
The research was based on Australian Bureau of Statistics projections that Australia's annual number of deaths will more than double from 142,000 in 2012 to more than 300,000 by 2050, exacerbated by the ageing of the population.
Industrial and residential developers are the main competitors for the developable land, which, if not properly zoned for a cemetery, is quickly snapped up for housing or warehousing centres.
One industrial agent said the time and money spent on getting a cemetery approved can dramatically increase the value of the site.
He said impact studies must be completed on traffic flows and environmental impacts, which can be a costly exercise for any buyer of the cemetery. If it is too excessive, vendors of the land head to the industrial and residential developers, which have access to more cash.
However, there are religions that require burial and not cremation, which makes the land in high demand in areas with a high mix of cultures.
The proposed Macarthur Memorial Park is situated on land that was once in the sights of home builders and commercial developers, with 35 per cent of the area proposed to be used as public parkland for the fast-growing Macarthur community over the first 60 years.
Peter O'Meara, chief executive of CMCT, said that with the expected growth of Sydney's population, land is being made available for housing and infrastructure such as roads and public facilities, but not for cemeteries. Local government authorities need to work more closely with the industry to help resolve this problem.
"This demand means that there is now a critical shortage of land for land burials, which still make up 30 per cent of internments. Even with cremations now at 70 per cent of internments and slowly increasing to an expected 75 per cent over the next 30 years, this rate of growth will not be enough to solve the shortage crisis," Mr O'Meara said.
He said the NSW government has recognised the looming crisis and is evaluating a range of options, such as re-using burial spaces, while giving CMCT consent for the $15 million acquisition of a 113-hectare parcel of land west of Campbelltown for a new cemetery.
CMCT will invest about $15 million to make the land a major community asset, with 37 hectares of parkland connected by walking tracks, lakes surrounded by boardwalks, a sculpture park and a botanical garden.
NSW Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson said: "The purchase will make a significant impact on the shortage of burial space in Sydney."