New Graveyard and Garden of Remembrance Regulations
GREAT BARFORD PARISH COUNCIL
Chairman Derrick Folbigg:, Vice Chairman Carole Ellis:
Councillors: Jeff Brandon, Tina Brandon, Trevor Cooper, Di Ames, Stuart Southall,
Ann Lovesey & James Rudgley. Adam Clements, Siobhan Vincent
Clerk to the Council – Mrs. Sharon Kingham
The Children’s Centre, Great Barford Lower School, Silver Street, Great Barford MK44 3JU
Email: greatbarfordparishclerk@hotmail.com
Tel: 01234 870245
Great Barford Parish Council
Graveyard regulations (revised January 2009) Issued April 2009
1. In these Rules and Regulations the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby assigned to them: ‘The Council’ means Great Barford Parish Council ‘The Graveyard’ means any burial ground or graveyard for the time being owned, provided or maintained by the Council. ‘Purchased grave’ means a grave in respect of which a grant of exclusive right of burial has been granted.
2. The Graveyard/Remembrance Garden is meant specifically for parishioners and those with previously established rights of burial in the Parish. It is the responsibility of the Funeral Directors to inform the bereaved of the regulations relating to Great Barford graveyard and Remembrance Garden.
3. All Interments must take place between 10 am and 4 pm. A notice of the days and hours permitted for interments will be given on the notice board or supplied by the Clerk to the Council on request.
4. Interments may take place with or without the services of a clergyman or minister of religion.
5. Notice of interment must be given to the Clerk to the Council at least two clear days before the funeral.
6. All forms, notices or other documents required to be produced or signed must be produced or signed before interment can take place.
7. The documents required to be produced in accordance with Regulation 6 above are the Certificate of Disposal issued by a registrar or coroner (which will be retained by the Council), the grant of exclusive right of interment or satisfactory evidence thereof in respect of burials in purchased graves, the notice to the Registrar and any other document which may be required by the Council in specific instances.
8. The Council will not undertake any responsibility for the delivery of any of the notices referred to in Regulation 6 above.
9. The Council will grant the right to any individual to reserve a burial plot, but graves may only be reserved in the next available plot in the current row.
10. The Council will not permit the re-use of a grave.
11. The Council will grant the exclusive right of burial in individual grave spaces for a period of seventy-five years from the date of the grant and has prescribed fees therefore.
12. Graves shall be re-opened for the purpose of burial only.
13. Every ordinary adult burial grave must be at least six feet (1830 mm) deep and person contemplating the burial of more than one body in the same grave, must go to the additional depth of two feet (610 mm) at least for each additional body and a layer of at least one foot (305 mm) of earth must be left between each coffin.
14. All graves and interment plots shall be excavated and opened only by workmen approved by the Council. It will be the responsibility of the Funeral Directors to ensure that graves are properly excavated in the correct place and that to inform the Council of the Grave digger employed. In the event of an error causing the loss of any burial plot, the Funeral Directors will be liable to compensate the Council. Plots should be back-filled properly in order to prevent sinking. The Council reserves the right to inspect six months after interment to check whether any sinking of the grave has occurred. In this event Funeral Directors will be asked to back-fill the plot to the required level.
15 The Council is not responsible for arranging or undertaking grave digging. Insurance cover for contractors undertaking grave digging is the responsibility of the said contractors, and the Council will accept no liability.
16 Stones shall be removed by and at the expense of the person requiring such removal, in good and sufficient time for the plot to be opened, and replaced by and at the expense of that person as soon as practicable after the interment.
17 Any damage to any boundary, headstones or other structure, or any other damage whatsoever, caused during the construction of any plot, or during the erection, removal or replacement of any structure whatsoever, shall be repaired by and at the expense of the person causing the same.
18 No bodies will be received for interment except in properly made and secured biodegradable coffins or caskets.
19 Underground brick or stonework or metallic coffins or caskets will not be permitted.
20 Planting will be permitted on burial graves up to 500 mm from the headstone, but will be leveled and mowed by the Council if untidy.
21 The burial spaces will, where practicable, be turfed flat and mown by the Council.
22 Headstones or vases may be placed only as directed in the Rules and Regulations on completion of form supplied by the Clerk, to all applicants.
23 Before any headstone or vase is placed in the Graveyard/Remembrance Garden, a drawing thereof showing the dimensions and the inscription to be placed thereon shall be delivered to the Clerk to the Council for approval and the prescribed fee paid.
24 Headstones permitted in the Graveyard, and shall be erected upon concrete plinths which shall not exceed 900mm in length, 450mm in width and 300mm in thickness. Only headstones or vases specified in form supplied by the Clerk (Application for permission to introduce memorial into the Graveyard) shall be allowed.
25 The only memorials which shall be permitted in the Graveyard should conform to the Rules and Regulations. Shall be natural or quarried stone and shall be;
a) headstones (without kerbs) not exceeding 900mm in height, 600mm in width and 100mm in depth:
or;
b) Flower vases not exceeding 10 inches (250mm) in height.
26 The Council reserves the right by notice to require any person who places any headstone or vase in the Graveyard/Remembrance Garden without prior permission or in other than the prescribed place or of a size which exceeds any of the dimensions referred to in the preceding Regulations to remove the same from the Graveyard/Remembrance Garden without further notice.
27 The Council will not be responsible for any accident to monuments, headstones or other structures occasioned by storm, wind, lightning, subsidence or any other cause whatsoever.
28 All headstones, vases and places of burial must be kept in repair by the owner.
29 The Council reserves the right, by notice, to require the owner of any headstone or vase which in their opinion has become unsafe or dilapidated, or which, in their opinion, is not kept in proper repair, to remove it. If after failure by any person to remove the same within 28 days after such notice, the Council may themselves carry out the work without incurring any liability for damage thereto arising out of the removal and will claim the costs incidental thereto from such person.
30 If after reasonable enquiries the name and address of the owner Cannot be ascertained the notice referred to in the preceding Regulations shall be deemed to be sufficiently given if placed or affixed upon the headstone or vase for a period of twenty-eight days.
31 A grant of exclusive right of burial will not be issued in the name of an undertaker or firm of undertakers or a partner in such firm unless evidence satisfactory to the Council is submitted that the grave is required for use by the applicant as a private individual and not for the purposes of his business or for the use of another person. No person will be allowed to hold at any one time the exclusive right of burial in more than two graves except with the special consent of the Council.
32 Details of any transfer or assignment of exclusive rights of burial must be submitted to the Council for approval. The approval of the Council shall not unreasonably be withheld in the case of a transfer or assignment of exclusive rights of burial from one inhabitant or parishioner within the parish of Great Barford to another inhabitant or parishioner of the said parish. In other cases the Council reserves the right to refuse approval or to give special consent to the transfer.
33 The Council may refuse to recognize any transfer or assignment of the exclusive right of burial which has not been reported to and approved by the Council.
34 Certificates of burial will be issued by the Council on application to the Clerk and payment of the prescribed fee.
35 No breakable containers or unsightly jars will be permitted in the Graveyard/Remembrance Garden. All dead flowers, wreaths, rubbish and other unsightly disfigurements should be removed from the graves or will be removed by the council after a 28 day notice period.
36 In areas where the planting of flowers is permitted the natural growth shall not exceed two feet (610 mm) in height. All planting and cultivations shall be subject to the control of the Council and the Council reserves the right to prune, cut down or dig up and remove any flowers at any time, when, in their opinion, the same have become unsightly or overgrown, or when necessary for the purpose of allowing the grave to be used again. No trees or shrubs may be planted.
37 The Parish Council allows floral tributes to be placed Around the War Memorial and the Clerk must be informed of the intention to do so. It is the responsibility of the Funeral Director or the family of the deceased to remove the floral tributes within 28 days. Otherwise removal will be carried out at the discretion of the Clerk.
39. The Council reserves the right to make from time to time any alterations in the foregoing Rules and Regulations.
Printed copies of the Rules and Regulations may be obtained from the Clerk to the Council.
NB. Any decisions for requests contrary to these rules will be at the discretion of the Clerk to the Council.
