Plans for Europe's biggest Muslim cemetery have been unveiled by the billionaire Issa brothers who recently bought a major stake in Asda.
The 84-acre Issa Memorial Garden would be built to the west of Blackburn, Lancashire, and will have 35,000 burial plots - covering a space the size of 40 football pitches.
This new site dwarfs the current largest Muslim cemetery, The Garden of Peace, which opened in East London in 2002 and holds 10,000 plots, all of which are now occupied.
The Issa Foundation, the charitable arm of billionaire brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa's business empire, put forward the plans in part due to an increase in deaths from Covid.
The self-made billionaire Issa brothers, whose started out cleaning toilets and bought up Asda last year, have won planning consent for a £5 million mosque in their home town of Blackburn
But hundreds of locals have objected to the plans, citing concerns over congestion and wildlife on greenland where the cemetery would be built.
And more than 2,800 people have signed a petition objecting to the proposals and Hyndburn Council requested more information on the development.
In a statement, the Issa Foundation said: '[The] need for Muslim burial plots within the North West of England has become critical, a situation made worse by Covid 19.
'The proposal is a matter of public interest for the Muslim community and is of strategic importance for the North West area.'
At the start of November, more than 200 people met to rally against plans for a cemetery, prior to the them being published.
During the meeting, which was attended by a number of councillors, one resident, who wished not to be named, said: 'We are concerned about a number of things.
'The roads are already congested enough in the morning and this is going to make that even worse.
Plans for what would be Europe's biggest Muslim cemetery have been unveiled by the billionaire Issa brothers
The 84-acre Issa Memorial Garden would be built to the west of Blackburn would have 35,000 burial plots - covering a space the size of 40 football pitches.
'People use the land for dog walking and there is also wildlife living on the green land which we want to protect.'
The foundation has now registered an application with Hyndburn Council for the creation of the cemetery, located off Blackburn Road, near the small town of Oswaldtwistle.
The documents detail a provision for 663 car parking spaces spanning the full length of the site's northern boundary, parallel with Blackburn Road.
This new site is just up the road from the
