Newark Town Council weigh up options for new cemetery following public consultation

A council is considering its options following a public consultation into future burial provision in Newark.

The consultation was launched last year after Newark Town Council established that Newark Cemetery, which the council has responsibility for, had less than seven years of available burial space remaining.

Following that report, the council voted to limit burials in the cemetery, on London Road, to only Newark residents as a way of extending the site’s lifespan.

A cemetery working group also began formulating plans for the cemetery and investigating options for burial provisions.

As part of this, the option of a new cemetery was put forward, although it was estimated this could cost the council as much as £1m. Therefore a consultation was launched to gather public opinion.

Over 280 people responded through the online survey or during face to face engagement.

The public were asked several questions about plans for the cemetery and burial preferences.

The main purpose of the survey was to establish if the public thought it was essential that Newark provided new cemetery and burial space once the existing cemetery reached its full capacity.

Almost three quarters of those who responded to the survey said it was essential, at 72.18%.

However, of those that answered yes, the number of people in favour dropped to 66.18% when asked if the cost of delivering the new service required a level of council tax funding.

With limited site options to choose from, participants were asked if they thought it was important that a new cemetery was located within Newark. 65% said it was important, and 31.1% said it wasn’t.

If a new cemetery is to be built, then the council wanted to establish how close to Newark it would have to be before people no longer considered it to be a Newark cemetery.

Answers to this question were less clear cut, with the three highest ranking responses being 23.7% within 1 mile, 23.02% saying 5 miles, and 10.79% up to 10 miles .

A proposal to re-use old graves in the existing cemetery on London Road if legislation changes to allow it, split opinions almost perfectly, with 48.25% in favour of the idea, and slightly more against it, at 48.95%.

When asked about how they wish for their body to be handled after death, the majority of respondents, 45%, preferred to be cremated.

Of the traditional burial options, 22.6% preferred to be buried in Newark, with just 2.8% outside of Newark. 18.34% had no preference.

Other alternative options included, 8.6% in favour of a green burial, 1.79% for body composting, and 1.07% for water resonation.

The public were also asked if they would support the building of a crematorium in Newark or surrounding areas.

Respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of the idea, with 79.1% saying yes, and only 20.86% answering no.

Based on the results of the consultation a number of recommendations were drawn up by the cemetery working group, however due to commercial sensitivity these were delivered to the council by the Town Clerk in closed session.

The council also received updates on other, non-sensitive plans for the cemetery.

Following an initial survey on the Cemetery Lodge, a project to potentially renovate the building has been put on hold after potential movement in the building was identified which would require large costs to investigate further.

Meanwhile, a survey of the Cemetery Chapel building identified that a number of structural repairs were needed. Quotes for this work are currently being sought but costs are expected to range in the tens of thousands of pounds.

Following careful analysis, the council also intends to create a children’s burial area at the London Road end of the existing site.

Despite concerns about a lack of burial provision in the current cemetery, it was considered that due to the low number of burials involving infants and children, the space that is available to extend the children's area into would provide many more decades of space for this type of burial.

What are your thoughts on a new cemetery? And have you given any thoughts as to your own funeral arrangements?