City council consults on grave issues
Christchurch cemeteries are expected to be full within 20 years and there are plans for a mega-cemetery and a mass burial site in case of a pandemic.
The Christchurch City Council has published its draft cemeteries master plan for public consultation. It outlines how to manage its 27 graveyards for the next 50 to 100 years.
With limited land available for cemeteries and an ageing population, securing land for Christchurch’s dead is a priority, the council says.
Statistics New Zealand figures show the number of deaths in New Zealand is slowly increasing because of the growth in the older age groups, and will continue to do so. The number of deaths registered in the year to September was 29,956, up from 29,707 in 2011.
This is expected to pass 40,000 in 2033 and 50,000 in 2046.
The council’s draft document says three of the 13 cemeteries within the city boundaries – Linwood, Sydenham and Waimairi – are close to full, while the Memorial Park, Avonhead, Yaldhurst and Belfast cemeteries are expected to reach capacity by 2031.
Second interment for double graves, already used at Lyttelton’s cemeteries, is likely to be the only option available at these sites after 2041.
The council is proposing to buy a large area of land for a mega-cemetery that could handle all Christchurch City burials for the next 100 years.
About 50 hectares within five kilometres of the city limits would be required, most likely to the west or southwest.
The site would need to have suitable ground conditions and be acceptable to Ngai Tahu.
If no suitable council land was available, the council would look at spending up to $1.5 million to buy land in the outer north to northwest suburbs or in the Selwyn District.
The council says the site could provide a ‘‘buffer’’ to cater for a growth in burial demand and a possible pandemic. If there is a pandemic in the short term, it has identified Avonhead and Memorial Park as being able to cope with a mass burial.
The cemetery would need to allow for up to 3000 bodies, to be buried shoulder to shoulder (allowing a metre width per body) and covered with at least 1 metre of soil, it says.
‘‘Alternatives such as freezing bodies at a temporary facility could be investigated so that bodies could be buried when and where requested rather than in a mass site.’’
The document also cites the need to cater for an ‘‘increasing demand’’ for eco-burials.
Also known as natural burials, they involve the unembalmed body, in an untreated soft-wood coffin, being buried 1 metre below ground.
Eco-burials have low environmental impact and try to maximise the conditions for bacteria to decompose the body by not using potentially toxic chemicals, such as embalming fluid.
Native plants are planted on the grave with the long-term purpose of establishing a native forest.
Simplicity Funerals senior funeral director Mark Glanville said he had noticed an increase in people opting for environmental options in the past five years for burial and cremation.
‘‘It’s got to go that way in the future. It [embalming solution] is all formaldehyde. It’s got to go somewhere.’’
Whereas ‘‘once upon a time you could only buy one kind of casket’’, people could choose cardboard, wicker, woollen or wood caskets, he said.
Cremation was becoming more common, possibly because burial plots cost nearly $2000, but cemeteries would always be needed, Glanville said. The Funeral Directors Association estimates 73 per cent of Cantabrians are being cremated instead of buried.
Public consultation on the council plan will close on February 19.