Losing the plot

Burial space in Christchurch is running low and expected to reach capacity within 10 years.

Some cemeteries are full already and only accepting burials and ash interments in prepurchased plots.

It is understood authorities are considering putting an end to the practice where individuals buy a burial plot alongside pre-deceased loved ones.

About 600 people a year are buried in Christchurch.

One funeral director – whose mother bought him a burial plot for his 13th birthday – thought 10 years was ‘‘a lot of time’’ for new cemetery space to be found. But another warned finding new space was not simple.

The council owns, maintains and manages 26 cemeteries within the city and Banks Peninsula. Most peninsula cemeteries have enough capacity to last decades.

Of the 13 cemeteries in the city four are closed, another four (Bromley, Linwood, Sydenham and Waimairi) are at capacity and only accepting burials and ash interments in pre-purchased plots.

Avonhead Park cemetery has space left for 350 burials in its lawn area. Memorial Park, Ruru Lawn, Belfast and Yaldhurst cemeteries have consents in place to provide 5523 full burial plots, 2791 ash plots and 1579 infant plots.

The Christchurch City Council said it was looking to buyland to accommodate further burials but expansion at many cemeteries was limited, especially in the northwest of the city.

The council was spending millions of dollars expanding Belfast cemetery to take an additional 2646 burial plots and had consents to extend a further three cemeteries within their existing boundaries. Even with these moves the council was predicting capacity to run out in about 10 years.

The predictions were supplied to The Press more than four months after it made an application under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act and shortly after it lodged an appeal with the Ombudsmen. The forecast was based on an average of 600 burials per year and do not take into account people pre-purchasing plots.

Statistics NZ figures show 2811 people died in the city last year.

Lamb and Hayward funeral manager David Capill said securing additional cemetery space was not a simple exercise for the council. ‘‘There’s a lot of complexities in getting the necessary approvals and consents from various parties before extending a cemetery or new ones.’’

Capill said burials had become less popular in the past 20 years. About 70 per cent of funerals involved cremation and 30 per cent burials. About 20 years ago those figures would have been reversed.

He said it was mainly personal preference, but burial was usually more expensive because the price of the plot had to be included.

Capill said he was advising people to pre-purchase plots, if they had a strong preference on where they wanted to be buried. He would also like to find out about the council’s long-term plans to address cemetery capacity.

Bell, Lamb and Trotter managing director Andrew Bell said he had heard cemetery space was limited and was aware the council was doing expansion work, but believed it would have to do more. ‘‘Ten years is a lot of time. Even the council can move in nine to 10 years.’’

However, Bell would not have to worry about cemetery capacity, because his mum bought him that burial plot for his 13th birthday. She bought a number of them for the family, paying about $300 each. Now they were worth about $1600.

He said burials were becoming less popular, mostly because of cost. They were on average about $1800 more pricy than a cremation.