by DAVID BROWN

Private companies are preparing to cash in on the death business, with plans for two new cemeteries as space for graves in Harrow Brent fills up.

Former boxing champion Joe Bygrave has signed a contract to sell Wood Farm in Stanmore for use as a graveyard and Brent Council is negotiating to sell land at the Welsh Harp.

The lack of space for burials is set to reach crisis point in Harrow within 15 years, with four of the six public cemeteries already full, except for shared graves and reserved spaces. Pinner New Cemetery in North Harrow is expected to fill up within eight years and Harrow Weald Cemetery within 10 to 15.

In Brent, extra spaces have been found at Alperton and Willesden cemeteries, which should extend usage to up to five years. Brent also has a cemetery in Carpenders Park, near Watford, which will last for more than 100 years. Harrow is also considering using some neighbouring land.

The sale of Wood Farm by Mr Bygrave, British Empire heavyweight champion in the 1950s, is conditional on the purchaser, McSharry Enterprises, getting planning permission for a cemetery and crematorium. Substantial plots of land would be sold to various religious denominations for burials.

Mr Bygrave has been in regular dispute with Harrow Council, which owns the freehold of the farm off Wood Lane, for many years over its use as a builders' waste tip. Restoration work is due for completion this summer.

The council has deferred a decision on whether to extend the lease on the land until it considers a planning application for the cemetery and crematorium. The land is just half a mile from Brockleyhill Farm, which was subject to proposals for a private cemetery and crematorium last year. A planning application was submitted but was later withdrawn.

Brent Council is negotiating to sell its former plant nursery close to the Welsh Harp and a private cemetery company is the front-runner to buy

The land was bought many years ago by the former Willesden Council, which built a chapel, entrance gates and boundary. But when Willesden merged with Wembley to form Brent, the scheme was dropped as Carpenders Park was already in use.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.