BUILDINGS at a major cemetery in Newport require "urgent" repairs to protect them from the elements and preserve them for future use.

The city council has applied for special permission to renovate several chapels at St Woolos Cemetery which are at risk of further decline.

Planning documents show signs of "significant progressive decay" have been found at the buildings, owing in part to "previous inappropriate interventions" to their structures.

If approved, any repair work will be done "in an informed and sensitive manner".

Failing to act now could mean the buildings "progressively deteriorate", according to a council-commissioned report by Buttress Architects.

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The report notes the cemetery's storied past, opened in 1854 as part of a "boom in cemetery building", mainly because previous burial plots in the UK had been considered "notoriously unsanitary".

Several chapels were built within the St Woolos grounds, for various Christian denominations and for members of the Jewish faith.

South Wales Argus: One of the buildings in need of repair in St Woolos Cemetery, NewportOne of the buildings in need of repair in St Woolos Cemetery, Newport (Image: Buttress Architects)

All of the buildings and structures within the cemetery are today Grade II-listed, and while the chapels are no longer used for their original purpose, the council wants to move swiftly to preserve this important part of the city's history.

The stonework and the windows of several chapels will be replaced, if permission is granted, and in some cases roofs will be re-tiled.

The city council says the works would "aim to halt further decay and preserve the surviving historic fabric".

"The works predominantly focus on the prevention of water ingress to make the buildings weathertight, until an appropriate viable use can be found for the former chapels," according to the planning application.

South Wales Argus: One of the buildings in need of repair in St Woolos Cemetery, NewportOne of the buildings in need of repair in St Woolos Cemetery, Newport (Image: Buttress Architects)

Any materials and repairs will be "specified with careful consideration towards the traditional construction" of the buildings to preserve their "character and significance".

In some cases, however, it will be "unavoidable that historic fabric will be removed or altered in order to ensure that the repairs are high quality and long-lasting".

According to the application, the proposed works would have a "positive impact on the aesthetic, historic, evidential and values of the site, as well as communal values of both individual chapels and within the wider setting of the cemetery".

The plans are available to view on the planning page of the Newport City Council website under application number 23/0063.