A PETITION protesting against a housing development on land adjacent to Barry Cemetery has topped more than 10,000 signatures.

More than 4,200 names have now been added to the original 5,869-signature petition, launched by the Save Cemetery Approach Action Group, in response to the plan by Newydd Housing Association to build 61 dwellings by Cemetery Road.

In March this year, the Vale Council reversed its December 2007 decision to give Newydd the go-ahead to build, following the action group’s discovery that the land was designated as open space by the British government in April 1954.

Newydd have appealed against the refusal of planning consent and a public inquiry is scheduled to take place in Barry next year.

The action group had to submit evidence to the independent Welsh Planning Inspectorate by mid-October, but permission was secured to launch a “supplementary” petition document.

Anyone who has not yet signed the document and opposes the plan, is still able to add their name.

Action group chairman Dennis Harkus said the plan would destroy the ‘special amenity’ and support showed the ‘overwhelming opposition’ to the plan.