Ref. Closed Church Burial Grounds
Information required regarding the process of applying to the local authority to take over the maintenance of a closed church burial ground.
e.g. How long does the grounds have to be closed for burials before the L.O. can take over etc?

Brian Goodyear

REPLIES

Fr. David Cawley - 31/10/04

This does not answer your "How Long?" question, but here is what happened in my previous Parish in Bristol in 1985. The last burial had taken place in 1978 (it was my predecessor, R.I.P. !)

1. PCC noted that Churchyard was full and took a formal vote to apply for closure.
2. Archdeacon of Bristol & Secretary of the DAC informed.
3. Letter of approval from A/D and formal certificate of approval from DAC together with PCC resolution sent to the City Clerk
4. Incredible wait
5. Notices of intent to close received from Home Office. These had to be displayed in several locations, rather like a Faculty Citation
6. Notice of intent with certificate of the requirements having been complied with returned to Home Office
7. Formal notice of closure under the Disused Burial Grounds (Amendment) Measure sent to us from the Home Office. We than had to serve these on the City Council, and request that they take over maintenance, which they did. I understand that a Local Authority must take over maintenance of a Burial Ground closed by one of the Measures, but may decline to do so with one closed subsequently 
8. Don't know why the font and size thereof changed above, but it has nothing to do with The Home Office, Leicester Diocesan Advisory Committee or our Archdeacon, Leicester City Council, St Mary de Castro PCC or even the Secretary-General: but all of them, except the last, will at some point be involved. In brief: go to your Archdeacon first!

(Fr) DAVID L CAWLEY
Vicar of St Mary de Castro, Priest-Associate GSS
(Note on 8 from Secretary-General - I have the power to change fonts {as in type not baptismal!!})

Roy Simons - 31/10/04

There is no minimum time. A request from the PCC to the Local Authority quoting the Local Government Act should be implemented three months after the request. The churchyard is still subject to Faculty Jurisdiction.
Burials can continue for relatives of those already interred. The transfer of maintenance does not include the maintenance of headstones etc. These remain the responsibility of those who erected them or their heirs.

Care should be taken to avoid confusion with the Open Spaces Act, which gives the local Authority the ability to alter the layout and to make further changes and can permit burials to continue. This is inappropriate for a burial ground round a church.

Roy Simons
Brentwood

Fr. Martin Court - 31/10/04

The advice given us here (and we're just in the process of handing over) is:

1. Make sure you have the Order from Privy Council that the Churchyard is officially closed.

2. Serve notice on the local Parish Council. They can then, if they wish, serve notice on the Area Authority if they wish, but the Church cannot directly serve notice on the Area Authority

We had a form of wording from the diocesan registrar for the above.

There is no set time that the churchyard has to be closed before serving notice. General opinion seems to say "do it as soon as possible"

I hope this helps

Fr Martin

Roland Hudson - 21/1/05

As soon as the Order in Council has been signed by H.M.The Queen the PCC can approach the Local Authority for them to maintain the Churchyard which they are
obliged to do.
Roland Hudson