Here is the background to the works currently taking place at Scholemoor Cemetery

The video, taken by a member of the public, seemed to imply that a mass grave was being dug at Scholemoor Cemetery as a response to the Coronavirus.

In her response, Cllr Hinchcliffe pointed out that this was work to expand the District's main Muslim Burial Ground. She said the work had been planned for several years, and had been reported on in the press last year.

Cllr Hinchcliffe said in her statement that "People may not have been interested in these decisions at the time but now that everyone is rightly concerned about coronavirus, contractor activity to carry out the commissioned work is inevitably getting more public attention."

At the time of the decisions, a number of readers actually criticised the Telegraph & Argus online for reporting on these planned works, claiming the stories were only written to sow racial divisions. One called one of the stories "disgraceful clickbait."

CORONAVIRUS: Council leader criticises Scholemoor Cemetery video

With the works now back in the public eye, we have included the background to the works below.

In July 2018 the Telegraph & Argus reported:

BRADFORD’S Muslim burial facilities will be expanded as part of a major shake up of the district’s bereavement service.

Although there is enough cemetery space in the district to cover burials for the next 30 years, there is only three years’ of burial space available at the dedicated Muslim burial ground at Scholemoor Cemetery.

At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Executive yesterday, members agreed to update the existing lease with the Council of Mosques, and seek to expand the cemetery to provide an extra seven years of burial space.

Members heard that the authority was looking at identifying land that would allow the cemetery to expand, and an area of neighbouring former allotment land could be used for this.

They voted that officers begin negotiations for the expansion.

The £17 million shake up of bereavement services will also include the creation of two new crematoria in the district, and the refurbishment of Oakworth Crematorium.

On January 10 2019 the Telegraph & Argus reported the following from a meeting of Bradford Council's Executive.

THE demand for Muslim burial plots in Bradford is increasing due to changing trends in the community, according to one leading figure.

At a Bradford Council Executive meeting in City Hall on Tuesday, general secretary of Bradford Council for Mosques (CfM) Zulfi Karim revealed a sharp rise in the number of Muslim burials in the district over the last few decades.

There were only six in Bradford in 1981, but last year there were 360 Muslim burials. This represents an increase of 5,900 per cent.

Bradford’s Muslim population rose from 75,188 in the 2001 Census to 129,041 in the most recent 2011 census – a 71.6 per cent increase.

But Mr Karim attributed the increase in Muslim burials in the district to a move away from repatriation within Bradford’s Islamic community.

He said: “This is down to both the increase in the Muslim population, and also the drop in the numbers of repatriations of deceased.

“The number of people who send the bodies of relatives back to their countries of origin to be buried is no longer significant, it is less than five per cent actually.”

He added: “The number of Muslim families who choose burial in the UK continues to grow. There is also an ageing Muslim population.

“Bradford has a young, diverse population, so the need for Muslim burials in Bradford will only increase.”

The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show Bradford has the third highest percentage of the under-16 population in England.

Nearly 25 per cent of the district’s overall population are Muslim, according to the ONS statistics.

Councillor Imran Khan said at the Council’s Executive meeting: “More people want to bury their loved ones in the UK, and younger people want to be able to visit their parents’ graves.”

This demand, as well as the general need for more crematorium services, is being tackled in several ways.

A report from the Council Executive meeting shows the current site dedicated to Muslim burials, at Scholemoor, has two to three years of burial space remaining.

The site is set to be expanded to increase the provision to eight to 10 years, but this is dependent upon the Council receiving a felling licence to remove the trees from the prospective neighbouring derelict allotment, in order to undertake the planning process. Work is expected to begin in summer 2019.

Bradford CfM undertakes the Muslim burials under a land lease from the Council, which originated in the mid-1980s. After the Executive meeting on Tuesday, an update on this lease – to address a further improvement to the quality of the service and to include the proposed expansion – was signed.

Mr Karim said: “We are delighted to be working with the bereavement service team.”

The Executive report also states: “The need for new cemetery provision beyond 10 years is recognised for both Muslim burial and more generally within the Shipley/Keighley corridor.”

There are also plans for the creation of two new crematoria to replace the ageing existing sites at Scholemoor and Nab Wood.

Imran Khan said: “We’re all going to need these services at some point - it’s important to treat our dead with dignity they deserve.”

This was followed by the below report from another Executive meeting in June 2019.

WORK to expand the district's main Muslim burial ground will start later this year, Council bosses have been told.

As part of the major shake up of Bradford's bereavement services, the existing Muslim Burial Ground at Scholemoor will be expanded onto a neighbouring plot of empty land.

It will create an extra capacity for five to six years of burials.

At a meeting of Bradford Council's Executive yesterday, members were told that work on the site, former allotment land, would start later this year.

The bereavement policy also includes the refurbishment of Oakworth Crematorium and the construction of two new crematorium in the district, replacing dated Nab Wood and Scholemoor Crematoria.

The Council for Mosques has been working with Bradford Council to identify a suitable site for the burial ground, and say more space is needed to due increasing demand for local burials, and a decline in the number of people being repatriated.

Muslim burials rise in Bradford with plans for Scholemoor expansion

Councillor Imran Khan, portfolio holder for Education, said: "The new site will be next to the existing cemetery. The Council of Mosques has done great work to help move this forward. Death is the only thing we are all guaranteed of, and it is great that everyone has come together to get these plans sorted and that work will start this year."

A report to the committee said: "Significant site clearance work has been necessary to allow access to this derelict and overgrown allotment site in order to carry out the ground surveys required to inform the proposed design and subsequent planning application.

"Discussions with the Forestry Commission were completed in February to allow clearance work as the site had been classified as woodland cover due to the number of self-seeded trees.

"The Council’s trees and woodlands service has now completed the above ground clearance and the site survey has been completed.

"Change of use planning permission is expected to be submitted within the next six weeks with construction work planned to start in late autumn."