Agenda item

To receive and consider the Regulations relating to the management and operation of the Council’s Tower Hill and Windrush Cemeteries.

The Committee had been previously circulated with the current rules and regulations relating to the Council’s cemeteries.

Due to a recent request for a Saturday interment of ashes, the Chair suggested she wanted to review the times of opening Tower Hill Cemetery, to be able to offer this service, if possible.  The Town Clerk advised that this should be taken to the Personnel Sub-Committee for consideration as there would be implications on staffing and advice would be needed on employment law.

Members discussed this suggestion and felt that perhaps Saturday interments/burials could be done for special circumstances and subject to the Town Clerk’s discretion.  The Town Clerk suggested that this could be by request and not as an advertised service.  Fees would also need to be increased from the weekday charges. 

The Chair raised the issue of access and the Operations and Estates Officer explained that the cemetery was always open during daylight hours in the week and that the bollard that prevented cars entering the top of the cemetery was removed at weekends. The main gates were locked at weekends but anyone wishing to enter could apply to the Friends of the Cemetery for the code to open the gates.   The Chair said that she wanted the bollard to be removed completely so that there could be car access at all times to that area and added that some people struggled to open the main gates.  At the request of a member, the Operations and Estates Officer provided some background history to the bollard being introduced, which had involved cars damaging graves and memorials and near misses involving cars almost hitting pedestrians and on one occasion a member of staff.

A member proposed that Officers should risk assess the roads and access to the cemetery and bring back recommendations, that the additional gate should be progressed and that officers should see what could be done to make the bottom gates easier to open. 

The Committee also discussed personal possessions being left on graves, the types of alternative memorials permitted, particularly those that could not afford headstones, and the general grounds maintenance of the cemeteries, as there had been several complaints over the past few months. 

Another member proposed that a booklet for those burying or interring people in the cemeteries be composed that would provide a “bit of a hug from the Town Council”.  She acknowledged that there was already a booklet but wanted something a little nicer. 

RECOMMENDED:

1.            that the opening hours of the Cemeteries be reviewed, particularly being able to offer interment of ashes on Saturdays, be referred to the Personnel Sub-Committee to look at the implications on staffing and legal issues;

2.            that the Operations and Estates Officer and the Compliance and Environment Officer carry out a risk assessment on the permanent removal of the bollard, which prevents car access to the top end of Tower Hill Cemetery and the whole vehicular and pedestrian access to that cemetery;

3.            that Officers continue to look at an additional pedestrian entrance at Tower Hill Cemetery;

4.            that the Operations and Estates Officer brings a report back to the next meeting on the specific issues raised;

5.            that a new handbook for the cemetery be designed with the emphasis being on compassion for the bereaved.