Cemetery Provision and Maintenance
Argyll and Bute Council · 7 June 2023
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre & the Islands Area Committee — 7 June 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL MID ARGYLL, KINTYRE AND THE ISLANDS AREA COMMITTEE ROADS AND INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES JUNE 2023 CEMETERY MAINTENANCE AND PROVISION 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This is a follow up report to a Cemetery Asset report considered by the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee in March this year which can be viewed here (item 8): Agenda for Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday, 2 March 2023, 10:30 am - Argyll and Bute Council (argyll-bute.gov.uk) 1.2 This covering report highlights the relevant information for the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Committee. 2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 It is recommended that the Area Committee endorse the content of this report. 3.0 DETAIL 3.1 The Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee report provides comprehensive information regarding cemetery provision across the whole council area. The summary table below details lairs which are closed, active and those with less than 5 years capacity in the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands area. CEMETERY SITES - SALE OF LAIRS STATUS - February 2023 review District "Closed" ACTIVE Less than 5yrs No Lairs for sale Lairs available sales remaining Mid-Argyll 17 6 none Kintyre 7 7 none & Islands 9 8 none 33 21 "Closed" ACTIVE
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3.2 There was previously issues with capacity at Kilkerran Cemetery reported in the 2019 EDI update paper. Due to revised counting, which is now based on the previous year’s lairs sold and the fact that we have introduced a stop on pre-sale of lairs at Kilkerran, we now have capacity of just over 7 years. However, work carried out to try and find a solution to expand or identify another area for a cemetery in Campbeltown has proven very challenging and time consuming due to the ground issues as well as identification of other suitable sites. Officers are still progressing with this. 3.3 At the March EDI Committee, it was agreed that where cemeteries are reaching capacity of available lairs that a restriction be placed on pre-sale of lairs in cemeteries based on the annual current sale rate where there is less than 10 years of available land remaining. 3.4 Annual monitoring of available lair numbers will be carried out with updates being provided to Members, detailing numbers of lairs and cemetery capacity, as noted at the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee in March 2023. 4.0 CONCLUSION 4.1 This report provides the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islands Area Committee with an update on cemetery provision. 5.0 IMPLICATIONS 5.1 Policy – Amended in line with Legislation and to allow proper management of lairs. 5.2 Financial – Capital funding will be required for the ongoing provision of additional lair capacity. 5.3 Legal – None known. 5.4 HR – None known. 5.5 Fairer Scotland Duty: 5.5.1 Equalities - protected characteristics – none known 5.5.2 Socio-economic Duty – none known 5.5.3 Islands – none known 5.6 Climate Change – due regard will be given to climate change with a view to minimising any climate change impact and these will be considered as and when they arise
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5.7 Risk – burial ground capacity will be monitored on an annual basis to ensure adequate planning can be put in place for ongoing burial provision. 5.8 Customer Service – Development programme and asset management allows Argyll and Bute Council to provide a local and area wide burial service. Executive Director with responsibility for Roads and Infrastructure: Kirsty Flanagan Head of Roads and Infrastructure: Jim Smith Policy Lead for Roads and Infrastructure: Councillor Ross Moreland May 2023 For further information contact: Jim Smith, Head of Roads and Infrastructure Service