Sonar search after council’s grave mistakes

A COUNCIL is to use sonar equipment to search a graveyard after admitting that some bodies have been buried in the wrong plot.

Yesterday, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole borough (BCP) council said it inherited years of poor records from the former Christchurch borough council in relation to burials in the Christchurch Cemetery.

A spokesman for the council said that record-keeping errors have even left future burials at the cemetery in doubt as the council employs sonar to check which burial plots are still empty.

The council said it is working to fix the “hugely distressing” mistakes of double bookings or accidental burials of loved ones in plots paid for by a different family.

The BCP council has apologised to residents after it found decades of poorly kept burial records at the site in Jumpers Road, Christchurch, Dorset, leading to a full inquiry and closure of the cemetery to new burials.

The council said the record-keeping issues had been caused by the governance of the former Christchurch borough council and were inherited by the newly formed BCP council in 2019, as part of the unification of the three boroughs.

Members of the council’s bereavement and environmental teams, as well as elected members, said that while their administration was not at fault for the errors it had taken responsibility.

At the end of 2021, they said bereavement services had been made aware of the historic errors, while further checks raised concerns about other records dating back to the 1990s and before.

The site was closed to new burials and during its investigation the council discovered one burial at the site had been accidentally placed within a plot already purchased by another family.

Kate Langdown, BCP council’s head of environment, said: “The families are naturally extremely upset by the news but they have been understanding and are engaging with us on seeking a resolution that respects families’ wishes.

“We have apologised unreservedly as it should never have happened and we’re doing everything we can now to work discreetly and sensitively with them to bring this to a conclusion.”

Ms Langdown added that no legal action was being pursued by the families.

Further investigation found that six other plots had potential record anomalies but that the number of errors could exceed this. No burials have been undertaken within these six plots.

“This is going to be a painstaking piece of work,” warned Ms Langdown, whose team is conducting a major audit of the cemetery.

“We’re potentially looking at a two-year period in terms of working through.”