The Town Council is to instruct solicitors to go ahead with the £100,000 purchase of a four-acre site which will become Gillingham’s new cemetery.

Councillors have also agreed to pay £29,706.50 to a company to design the cemetery grounds and layout.

As yet the location of this new site is being kept confidential for commercial reasons.

The vote at Monday night’s meeting of the Full Council authorised mayor Fiona Cullen and deputy mayor Donna Toye to sign for the purchase of the land on behalf of the town.

The council had already voted in principle a year ago to spend up to £100,000 on a new site. At the time town clerk Julie Hawkins explained why the location of the site has not been disclosed. She told councillors: ‘It’s commercially sensitive … we’re in negotiations at the moment with a landowner over the purchase of some land and we don’t want [the location of] that piece of land to be made public.’

She added: ‘It’s not in a public’s interest to do that – we don’t want to get gazumped.’

The company who will design the site is called CDS. On its website the Bedford-based CDS Group says that it is ‘proud to be the only consultancy specialising in cemetery and crematorium development management’.

The company, which has already done some work for Sherborne Town Council, adds: ‘Our mission is to create tranquil, meaningful environments that honour the memories of loved ones passed and provide comfort to the living.’

* Mayor Fiona Cullen is to write a formal letter to Dorset Council asking for a ‘detailed explanation’ of how ‘established procedures’ were followed in its decision to grant planning permission for a self-service jet car wash facility at the Harwood Retail Centre off Station Road in Gillingham.

A member of the public had asked the Town Council to request that Dorset carry out a ‘formal investigation’ into the procedures adopted in the case.

However, councillors on Monday agreed initially to ask for an explanation over the procedures, while reserving the right to ask for an investigation at a later date.

The controversy over the granting of this application stems from the fact the approval was given by a planning officer at Dorset Council under delegated powers, rather than the case being put before Dorset councillors sitting on the northern area planning committee.

This is despite the fact that earlier this year Gillingham Town Council – who oppose the jet wash scheme – had expressly asked for the matter to go before that committee.

Explaining the issue, town clerk Julie Hawkins told councillors: ‘The officers at Dorset  Council believe they followed the correct procedure. The residents believe they didn’t follow the correct procedure.’

The jet wash scheme is strongly opposed by local residents because of the noise and disruption they say it will cause.

* Gillingham Town Council has agreed to co-sign a letter to Dorset’s Police and Crime

Commissioner (PCC) and Chief Constable expressing concern over ‘inadequate police coverage in North Dorset’. The move comes after an approach by Shaftesbury Town Council, who have written the critical letter.

* Gillingham Town Council was invited to participate as a ‘star council’ of Dorset at an October conference on the devolution of powers in the county. This event provided an ‘excellent opportunity’ for the council to share its experience and knowledge with other councils, particularly about the management of various sites that were transferred to the Town Council by North Dorset District Council several years ago, councillors were told on Monday.