Farmer's land sought for burials

Dominic Bareham

MORE land is being sought to bury the dead in Acle before the village parish council is faced with the prospect of having to turn away future burials.

The council's clerk Pauline James, who arranges burials at the council's Pyebush Lane cemetery, has written to the owner of neighbouring farmland, Philip Molineaux, about the possibility of buying some of the land for use as burial plots.

She said the existing site had another six or seven years to go before it was full, assuming burials continued at the existing rate of six or seven a year.

So far, 310 of the 350 plots available at the cemetery have been taken, and Mrs James said although there was some space the council needed to plan ahead to get more land in the future.

“We have probably got about six years left. There is space for about 40 people and we have got areas of the cemetery we could use. It is not the end of the world. We don't want people to panic - we are just being responsible and planning ahead,” Mrs James said.

She added there had been an increasing number of people choosing to be buried rather than cremated, with six burials to every one or two cremations.

She believed the preference for burials reflected changing trends and said environmental concerns may be part of it, with more people concerned about harmful emissions associated with cremations.

In the worst case scenario, the

council could seek a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) from Broadland District Council to secure the extra farmland, which would be a quarter of an acre and provide space for another 350 burial plots.

However, Mrs James was confident a CPO would not be necessary.

The council's cemetery has been running for 30 years. A separate cemetery exists at St Edmund's Church in the village, but this is only open for burials in family-owned plots.