Final say looms on burial costs
accepting comments from the public following protests over its plans to increase prices.
Anger flared at a council meeting in September when new charges were proposed with dozens of people from Muslim communities, including the Huddersfield Muslim Burial Council, attending to accuse the council of I"vviÀà Ûi ÕÌ Ó{°£Ó°£Ç° «À`ÕVÌà ÃÕLiVÌ Ì >Û>>LÌÞ° *i>Ãi V iV ÞÕÀ ÃÌÀi >`Û>Vi Ì >Û` `Ã>««ÌiÌ° "i `iÛiÀÞ V >À}ià >Þ >««Þ° religious discrimination.
Their complaints centre on new fees for services in the evening or at the weekend.
Muslims, and some other faiths, require their dead to be buried within 24 hours, meaning they cannot be scheduled at cheaper times.
The proposals are to charge a £477 premium for out-of-hours services and a £99 premium for Friday afternoons.
Most fees will be increased by 50% or more, although the current charges for burying children are set to be stopped completely.
Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff has spoken against the proposals and earlier this week, Mark Eastwood, the chairman of the Dewsbury County Conservative Association, said he was writing to the government to ask them to investigate if it was religious discrimination.
Clr Graham Turner, said: “At this stage, cabinet members have only agreed to seek people’s views on the proposed new charges. “No final decisions have been made. “The six-week engagement period was always going to be a vital part of the process as we wanted to hear feedback from interested parties and listen to any other ideas.
“Our burial services are currently losing money, so we need to examine different options at a time of unprecedented financial challenge.
“We know this is a sensitive area for many people and we value the opinions we are receiving.”
Clr Musarrat Khan, joint cabinet member responsible, added: “The engagement runs until Friday so there is still time for interested parties to have their say. We have already started to analyse the feedback and we expect to make an announcement shortly after the engagement period has ended.”
More details are available at www. kirklees.gov.uk/bereavementengagement
To take part, email your views to bereavement.engagement@kirklees. gov.uk