By Tom Sharratt and Tony Harcup. The Ottawa Citizen.
Wolverhampton was particularly unhelpful, says John Bradfield, author of Green Burial. What [Martha] did not know, he says, is that you can arrange to be buried just about anywhere and apply for a “certificate of lawfulness — a declaration by a local authority that planning permission is not required. These are not uncommon, he says. Harrogate, in Yorkshire, granted one last year to a former green councillor.
Woodland burial sites have opened at Carlisle on the Scottish border and Brighton on the south coast. Ribble Valley Borough Council in Lancashire has earmarked a cemetery extension already bordered by woodland.
Traditional graves may be about three metres deep to accommodate several burials. But since it is impossible to keep uprooting trees, the graves are dug to the depth of a single internment with space for a second alongside. The tree, planted after the first burial, remains in place no matter how many years pass before the second space is occupied.
Full Text (668 words)
(Copyright The Ottawa Citizen)
LONDON — When her husband died in 1992, Martha asked her local council if he could be buried in the couple’s garden. There was a great sucking of municipal teeth and much muttering about “public health.
The answer was no.
But garden burials have now been approved by at least two local authorities and it is widely thought that many more have taken place without anyone being told. Meanwhile, a scheme to create burial grounds which turn into living memorials of woodland is winning wide support from cemetery authorities throughout Britain.
Wolverhampton, the authority in the English West Midlands in which Martha (not her real name) lived, claimed that a garden burial would need planning permission as the Town and Country Planning Act defines development as “building, engineering, mining, or other development over or under land.
Martha appealed to the Department of the Environment but died before a decision was made. She was buried, against her will, in a conventional cemetery.
Wolverhampton was particularly unhelpful, says John Bradfield, author of Green Burial. What Martha did not know, he says, is that you can arrange to be buried just about anywhere and apply for a “certificate of lawfulness — a declaration by a local authority that planning permission is not required. These are not uncommon, he says. Harrogate, in Yorkshire, granted one last year to a former green councillor.
In strict legal terms, a burial requires only a certificate of disposal issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths, or an Order for Burial issued by the coroner. Nor is there a legal requirement to use coffins, gravestones or an undertaker.
Woodland burial sites have opened at Carlisle on the Scottish border and Brighton on the south coast. Ribble Valley Borough Council in Lancashire has earmarked a cemetery extension already bordered by woodland.
The idea of “green burials is that the land will eventually become natural woodland, forming an undisturbed habitat for plants and wildlife. Headstones and vases are banned and the only grave marker is a single tree. A wall plaque nearby is sometimes available.
Traditional graves may be about three metres deep to accommodate several burials. But since it is impossible to keep uprooting trees, the graves are dug to the depth of a single internment with space for a second alongside. The tree, planted after the first burial, remains in place no matter how many years pass before the second space is occupied.
Woodland burial was first devised by Ken West, bereavement services manager at Carlisle, where the council set aside seven acres adjoining the main city cemetery.
West is president of the Institute of Burial and Cremation Administration. “This is not for people who need the neat and tidy grave with its traditional headstone. It will be chosen by those who love birds and wildlife and wish to create woodland for future generations.
All the trees to be planted at Carlisle will be oak. In addition, 200 bluebell bulbs will be placed at random on each grave and wildflower seeds will be scattered.
Forty graves have been bought by future occupants, one burial has taken place, and two families have interred cremated remains.
The cost is the same as for a traditional grave. The council offers coffins in chipboard (about $170 Cdn.) or cardboard ($110) with burial shrouds ($200) woven in pure wool for “uncoffined interments.
“Environmentalists tend to like cardboard coffins and wool shrouds because they are so readily biodegradable, says West’s assistant, Mike Skelton.
At Brighton, the council set aside a three-acre site for woodland burials last February and expects to accommodate up to 3,000 interments.
Barbara Bloomfield was one of the first to use the scheme. She is not particularly “green,” but needed to bury her “non-religous ex-communist” mother-in-law.
“I’m glad we did it, she says. “But doing without a minister and a coffin is hard to cope with. There was none of the comfort that the church would have provided. You really are left to your own resources.