Land Franciscan cemetery becomes part of new park Pannesheide

The Franciscan cemetery is now still owned by the "Foundation for the Heritage of the Franciscan Brothers of Bleijerheide. However, the Franciscan friars are getting too old to maintain the cemetery. The Foundation does not want the cemetery to look worse and worse. Therefore, they have decided to clear the cemetery. This means that the graves will be removed.The deceased Franciscan brothers who lie in the cemetery will be given a new grave in a municipal cemetery.

The municipality is taking over the land so the new park will be larger.  

After the Foundation clears the cemetery, the piece of land becomes the municipality's. This was agreed upon by the Foundation and the municipality together. Alderman Tim Weijers (Spatial Planning): "We as a municipality are happy to take over the piece of land from the Foundation. In this way it can become part of the public area around the monastery wing. It is a great opportunity to make the new park even bigger. This will add an extra piece of public green space to the neighborhood." 

There will be a lasting reminder of the Franciscan cemetery in the future park: the crucifix now in the cemetery will be given a new place there. This is what the Foundation wants. 

The soil is examined

Before the cemetery can be cleared, an exploratory environmental soil survey must be conducted on the piece of land. This is done to see if the soil is not contaminated. The Foundation will have this done by the end of this year. The municipality will take over the land only after the Foundation has had the cemetery cleared and after they have given the municipality a "clean soil certificate.