With only five years’ of burial sites left in Spalding Cemetery, a policy of only burying town residents there is being considered.
The Pinchbeck Road grounds have been used to bury the town’s deceased for around 163 years since its consecration in 1854, but alternatives now need to be found.
South Holland District Council (SHDC) says that by its estimates, at current mortality rates, there will no longer be any room on the current site in around three years’ time.
To maximise the room they currently have, limiting those who can be buried there to those living in Spalding are among future policies being considered.
The exact details of any restrictions on who can and can’t be buried there would need to be finalised but the council say that a deceased person who was on the electoral role for Spalding would provide what the council called “a clear indication for a burial”.
The council also said that there could be an intention that anybody who qualified for what is known as a Pauper’s Funeral, a burial paid for by SHDC when no relatives could be found, would be cremated rather than buried.
The measures would be in place as the district council is looking for other potential pieces of land to provide burial space.
The item came up in a discussion the Spalding Town Forum had with regards the Spalding Special Expense, the portion of the council tax town residents pay that goes towards amenities in the town.
Councillor Roger Gambba-Jones brought up the issue of the future of Spalding Cemetery as an example of funding pressures the town’s tax-payers may face in the future.
He said: “A team are to look into other issues relating to the diminishing space (in the cemetery). Any additional space will be a burden on Spalding tax payers.
“There may be some practical decision made about restricting access to Spalding residents in order to make it last longer and in order to avoid the burden of paying for another cemetery.”
Following the meeting Coun Gambba-Jones said: “We are actively looking for some ways to extend the cemetery but we may have to make what we’ve got last as long as possible so ideas like this will have to be given serious consideration.”
Back in July 2014 a report to South Holland District Council’s Policy Development Panel stated then that Spalding Cemetery had only three to four years of burial space.
The council says the opening of the South Lincolnshire Crematorium in Surfleet has reduced the rates of burials in South Holland since then.
At the time the council were looking to turn an open space located off Chiltern Drive into an extension for the graveyard.
Sport England said it would support that proposal if the play equipment situated there was moved elsewhere.
However, the acquiring of the Chiltern Drive land has never taken place.
