Northamptonshire council set to introduce £2.5k grave reservation fee

A Northamptonshire council has announced its intention to charge residents more than £2,000 to reserve a grave plot in a chosen cemetery.

North Northants Council (NNC) has said that if the new county-wide fees are approved on Thursday (November 14), it will allow it to manage the finite number of burial plots and ensure that they are available for the "longest possible time to the widest number of families".

Currently, different policies for reserving graves within NNC depend on postcodes. Cemeteries that were previously managed by Kettering Borough Council already employ the £2,513 fee, which reserves the grave for 99 years.

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A reservation fee secures a grave for the purchaser for the specified timeframe so that they are clear where they or their loved ones will be buried. The policy has already been in place for eight years in Kettering and allows a resident to reserve one single burial plot per person.

Under the council's recommended policy, the fee would be extended to all council cemeteries to harmonise burial services across the region. It said that if the 'status quo' is maintained and policies aren't brought together it would impact the management of cemeteries and planning for the future, as well as 'unfairly' affecting residents reserving plots in the Kettering area.

NNC own 13 cemeteries across the Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough areas. The number of reserved graves differs greatly between Kettering and other legacy areas. Just 17.7 per cent of available grave space is reserved in Kettering compared to 91.2 per cent of available spaces already reserved within the Corby area, where there is no burial policy or accompanying fee.

The council report explains: "The introduction of a burial reservation policy covering all 13 cemeteries, would remove the inconsistencies across the different cemeteries which currently exist and allow for the more effective and efficient management and allocation of grave spaces going forward.

"To manage the levels of reservations a fee of an appropriate level needs to be charged, otherwise the situation will remain at the current levels of reservation. It is proposed that the Kettering fee of £2, 513 is replicated across all Council owned and managed cemeteries."

It concluded that the £2,500 Kettering fee is having the "desired effect" and is therefore set at an effective level. The reservation fee contributes to the upkeep of the wider cemetery and also goes towards any plans for future extensions or the creation of new cemeteries.

A public consultation on the plans took place earlier this year with the biggest overall concern relating to the impact the costs will have on the older and poorer members of communities. NNC clarified that a resident can be buried in any of its cemeteries and it is not mandatory to reserve a plot in advance. It said that the fee would actually manage the level of reservations, in turn reducing pressure on available spaces and ensuring that everyone has an 'equal chance' of being buried in their preferred cemetery.

Other local authorities including Cornwall, Nuneaton and Newcastle have also introduced reservation policies and fees and all charge upwards of £2,000 for a 99 year grave reservation period.

North Northamptonshire's executive panel will make a decision on the burial charges on Thursday this week, after officers have recommended them to approve the policy across the whole area. If the proposal is accepted, then the policy and the fee will be applied to all burial reservations from November 1, 2024.