“DESPERATE” councils are burying the dead beneath pathways, cutting down trees and buying up extra land to cope as the country faces a mounting crisis in burial space. Others are reopening existing graves to free up space in increasingly crowded cemeteries. Analysis of more than 1,000 cemeteries from 200 councils around the UK has revealed […]
“DESPERATE” councils are burying the dead beneath pathways, cutting down trees and buying up extra land to cope as the country faces a mounting crisis in burial space.
Others are reopening existing graves to free up space in increasingly crowded cemeteries.
Analysis of more than 1,000 cemeteries from 200 councils around the UK has revealed around one in five are expected to run out of space in the next 10 years.
A further 300 council-run cemeteries have already closed to new burials as they are banned from reusing existing plots.
At the same time the premium on buying grave space is increasing – by more than 40 per cent in just six years.
The system has been dubbed “innately unsustainable” as councils scrabble to find new land for burials.
And experts have warned local authorities could scrap burial provision altogether as they search for new cost savings.
In some areas of London, including Fulham, the price-tag to reserve a grave has now risen to more than £11,000. That does not include additional fees – which include an “interment fee” of almost £1,500 to dig the grave.
Prices increase if you have moved away from your local area but want to return to be buried. Fees for non-residents can see the total bill rise four-fold.
In Greenwich, south east London, the price to lease a plot of land and dig a grave is more than £12,000 for non-residents – but only around £3,000 for those who still live in the borough.
At two cemeteries in Northampton – Towcester Road and Dallington – trees have been cut down and grass walkways dug up to create extra graves.
In Bexley, south-east London, Erith Cemetery was full by 1994.
To provide new space for burials the council built upwards with a new ’memorial terrace’ which opened in 2014, creating 600 new burial vaults above ground in a mausoleum.
The council said there is “virtually no space within the borough’s boundaries” for a new cemetery.
Dr Julie Rugg, of the Cemetery Research Group at the University of York, said some councils were becoming “desperate”.
She said: “Some have started digging up paths and car parks or knocking down buildings so they can reconfigure the space they have.
“Some London boroughs have been known to bring in six feet of earth to put on top of the existing graves to provide additional depth.”
There is no legal requirement for local authorities to provide burial space, so some are relying on the private sector to pick up the slack.
