Grave shortage of burial plots

PEOPLE should not be expected to be buried in their local churchyards because space is running out, the Church in Wales has warned.

The church said it was struggling to pay for the upkeep of graves because it no longer received income from burials.

Alex Glanville, from the Church in Wales, said people could no longer automatically expect to be buried close to home. He told the BBC: “We can no longer take it for granted that we will have a last resting place in or near our community. The majority of our churchyards will soon be full and we do not have the resources to extend them or open new ones.”

Industry figures have warned that grave reuse needs to be allowed to head off a burial space crisis. The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management has previously lobbied for a change in the law allowing graves to be reused.

The situation in England is thought to vary, with some regions under immense pressure and others having decades of capacity left.

Under common law, people have the right to be buried in their local parish churchyard unless it has been closed due to lack of space. The law allows reuse of graves older than 75 years in London, where there is a particular shortage of space, and was changed to allow it in Scotland in 2016.

More people are opting for cremation, but religious traditions mean many people still want to be buried.