Moray Council to revise management rules for cemeteries and burial grounds
Following consultation with funeral directors and memorial masons, Moray Council’s Economic Development and Infrastructure Services Committee approved revisions to cemetery and burial ground management rules at its meeting on Tuesday 5 September.
Dedicated burial booking times, lairs allocated on rotation rather than by individual site selection, removing the option to pre-purchase lairs, and adopting a specific standard for headstones to meet the British Standard and provide limits on maximum dimensions are the principle changes being put in place to provide a safe, efficient and dignified service provision.
Elected members were advised that pre-purchased lairs can compromise the life expectancy of a cemetery or burial ground if they remain empty for many years, sometimes with lair owners being buried or cremated at alternative sites.
This is particularly pertinent where the remaining burial capacity within a cemetery or burial ground is running out, lair space is at a premium and empty lairs cannot be allocated to customers at the point of need.
Committee Chair, Cllr Marc Macrae, said: “The overarching purpose of these revised rules is to ensure we’re managing our cemeteries and the overall burial service safely, efficiently and with dignity.
“These changes will improve service planning and allow for better use of our limited resources. The council recognises that this is an extremely important public service and its provision must be done with the utmost sensitively and care. We will be writing to funeral directors and memorial masons to inform them of the immediate changes and will be further communicating with them again once the timescale for introducing the fixed booking slots have been established.”