Isle crisis as cemeteries run out of space

AN island is facing a burial crisis as it runs out of space in its cemeteries.

It is feared there could be as few as ten plots left on Mull for a population of 2,700 – prompting the local authority to stop selling them off.

Now, islanders have been told they cannot buy a lair in advance – only once a loved one has died.

Families could face the prospect of burying relatives 30 miles away, or even having them cremated on the mainland.

Mary Jean Devon, a councillor based in Mull’s main town, Tobermory, said she has been raising the issue with officials for ‘the best part of a year and a half’. She said: ‘When people get older they want to buy a lair in their home place.’

She added: ‘I find it quite sad that people who have lived here all their lives might not be able to be buried here and their grandchildren can’t go for a walk and put flowers on their graves.’

Billy McClymont, owner of Mull Funeral Services, is also chairman of Mull Community Council.

He said: ‘In Tobermory they are down to nine lairs. It is a problem. There is a moratorium on buying them. Your family can only buy one for you once you are dead. The reason is because they are running out. Really the only cemetery on Mull with a reasonable amount of space left is Kilpatrick at Duart.

‘We are talking about there only being between ten and 30 graves left on the whole of the island.

‘The main cemetery in Tobermory only has nine lairs left. That is for a town with a population of around 800 and around 60 per cent of the population is over 65.

‘Calgary cemetery has been full for a number of years. If you are living in a community you want to be buried there, you don’t want to be buried 30 miles down the road away from your family.’ The nearest crematorium to the Inner Hebridean island is in Cardross, near Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, 105 miles away on the mainland.

Roddy McCuish, Argyll and Bute Council’s policy lead for roads and amenity services, said: ‘I will follow this up as a matter of priority… We have to do this with the utmost respect.’

A council spokesman said: ‘A feasibility study is under way to establish how an expansion of the cemetery at Beadoun, near Tobermory, could be carried out.

‘The process is in the early stages and any expansion would depend on capital funds being available.’